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George Washington.

Painted by Rembrandt Peale.

A BRIEF HISTORY

OF THE

UNITED STATES

JOHN BACH McMASTER

PK0FBS80R OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY
OF PENNSY'LVANIA

REVISED AND ENLARGED

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO
BOSTON ATLAJJ^TA

r.V.\.l /A)

McM. BRIEF.
E-P 21

PREFACE

It is not too much to assert that most of our countrymen
acquire at school all the knowledge they possess of the past
history of their country. In view of this fact it is most desira-
ble that a history of the United States for elementary schools
should present not only the essential features of our country's
progress which all should learn, but also many things of sec-
ondary consequence which it is well for every young American
to know.

In this book the text proper consists of the essentials, and
these are told in as few words as truth and fairness will permit.
The notes, which form a large part of the book, include the
matters of less fundamental importance : they may be included
in the required lessons, or may be omitted, as the teacher
thinks proper; however, they should at least be read. Some
of the notes are outline biographies of men whose acts require
mention in the text and who ought not to be mere names, nor
appear suddenly without any statement of their earlier careers.
Others are intended to be fuller statements of important events
briefly described or narrated in the text, or relate to interesting
events that are of only secondary importance. Still others call
attention to the treatment of historical personages or events by
our poets and novelists, or suggest passages in standard his-
tories that may be read with profit. Such suggested readings
have been chosen mostly from books that are likely to be found
in all school libraries.

Much of the machinery sometimes used in history teaching —
bibliographies, extensive collateral readings, judgment ques-
tions, and the like — have been omitted as out of place in a

6 PREFACE

brief school history. Better results may be obtained by having
the pilpils write simple narratives in their own words, covering
important periods and topics in our history : as, the discovery of
America ; the exploration of our coast and continent ; the set-
tlements that failed ; the planting of the English colonies ; the
life of the colonists ; the struggles for possession of the country;
the causes of the Revolution ; the material development of our
country between certain dates; and other subjects that the
teacher may suggest. The student who can take such broad
views of our history, and put his knowledge in his own words,
will acquire information that is not likely to be forgotten.

No trouble has been spared in the selection of interesting
and authentic illustrations that will truly illustrate the text.
Acknowledgment is due for permission to photograph many
articles in museums and in the possession of various historical
societies. The reproduction of part of Lincoln's proclamation
on page 365 is inserted by courtesy of David McKay, publisher
of Lossing's Civil War in America.

JOHN BACH McMASTER.
Univkrsity of Pennsylvania.

CONTENTS

Discovery and Exploration

aHAFTSB PAOB

I. The New World Found 9

II. The Atlantic Coast and the Pacific Discovered . 19

IIL France and England attempt to settle America . 32

The English in America

IV". The English on the Chesapeake 41

V. The English in New England 54

VI. The Middle and Southern Colonies . ... 70

VIL How the Colonies were Governed .... 87

Rivals op the English

VIII. The Indians 101

IX. The French in America 114

X. Wars with the French 123

XL The French driven from America .... 135

The American Revolution

Xll. The Quarrel with the Mother Country . . . 147

Xm. The Fight for Independence Begun .... 158

XIV. The War in the Middle States and on the Sea . 169

XV. The War in the West and in the South . . . 181

Development of the Union

XVI. After the War 196

XVn. Our Country in 1789 210

XVIII. The New Government .222

XIX. Growth of the Country, 1789-1805 .... 237

XX. The Struggle for Commercial Independence . . 249

XXI. Rise op the West 264

XXn. The Era of Good Feeling 280

XXIII. Politics from 1829 to 1841 288

XXIV. Growth of the Country from 1820 to 1840 . . 300

CHAPTER

XXV.

XX VI.

XXVII.

XXVIII.

XXIX.

XXX.

XXXI.

CONTENTS

The Long Struggle against Slavery

More Territory Acquired

The Struggle for Free Soil

State of the Country from 1840 to 1860

The Civil War, 1861-1863

The Civil War, 1863-1865

The Navy in the War ; Life in War Times

Reconstruction

PAGE

316
332
340
351
366
376
385

Economic Development

XXXIL Growth of the Country from 1860 to 1880 . . 393

XXXIII. A Quarter Century of Struggle over Industrial

Questions, 1872 to 1897 404

XXXIV. The War with Spain, and Later Events . . . 421
XXXV. New Plans of Government 437

XXXVI. War with Germany .446

APPENDIX
The Declaration of Independence
Constitution of the United States
Tables of States and of Presidents
Index

xiv, xvi

xvii

LIST OF COLORED MAPS

French Claims, etc., in 1700

Eastern North America, 1754

British Territory, 1764

Northern Colonies during the Revolution
Southern Colonies during the Revolution
The United States, about 1783, showing State Claims
The United States, 1805

118
134
142
168
184
194, 195
242

The United States, 1824 . 278, 279

The United States, 1850 330, 331

The United States, 1861 352, 353

The West in 1870 (also 1860 and 1907) . . ; . 394

The United States and its Outlying Possessions . . 425

A BEIEF HISTORY

THE UI^ITED STATES

CHAPTER I

THE NEW WORLD FOUND

The New World, of which our country is the most impor-
tant part, was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492.
When that great man set sail from Spain on his voyage of dis-
covery, he was seeking not only unknown lands, but a new
way to eastern Asia. Such a new way was badly needed.

The Routes of Trade. — Long before Columbus was born, the
people of Europe had been trading with the far East. Spices,
drugs, and precious stones, silks, and other articles of luxury
were brought, partly by vessels and partly by camels, from
India, the Spice Islands, and Cathay (China) by various routes
to Constantinople and the cities in Egypt and along the east-
ern shore of the Mediterranean. There they were traded for
the copper, tin, and lead, coral, and woolens of Europe, and
then carried to Venice and Genoa, whence merchants spread
them over all Europe.^ The merchants of Genoa traded chiefly
with Constantinople, and those of Venice with Egypt.

1 In the Middle Ages, when food was coarse and cookery poor, cinnamon
and cloves, nutmeg and mace, allspice, ginger, and pepper were highly prized
for spicing ale or seasoning food. But all these spices were very expensive in
Europe because they had to be brought so far from the distant East. Even
pepper, which is now used by every one, was then a fit gift from one king to
another. Camphor and rhubarb, indigo, musk, sandalwood, Brazil wood, aloes
wood, all came from the East. Muslin and damask bear the names of eastern
cities whence they were first obtained. In the fifteenth century the churches,
palaces, manor houses, and homes of rich merchants were adorned with the
rugs and carpets of the East.

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION

The Turks seize the Routes of Trade. — While this trade was
at its height, Asia Minor (from the Black Sea to the Mediter-
ranean) was conquered by the Turks, the caravan routes across
that country were seized, and when Constantinople was cap-
tured (in 1453), the trade of Genoa was ruined. Should the
Turkish conquests be extended southward to Egypt (as later

The known world in 1490; routes to India.

they were), the prosperity of Venice would likewise be de-
stroyed, and all existing trade routes to the Orient would be in
Turkish hands.

The Portuguese seek a New Route. — Clearly an ocean route
to the East was needed, and on the discovery of such a route
the Portuguese had long been hard at work. Fired by a desire
to expand Portugal and add to the geographical knowledge of
his day. Prince Henry " the Navigator " sent out explorer after
explorer, who, pushing down the coast of Africa, had almost

THE NEW WORLD FOUND

A caravel, a ship of the fifteenth century.

reached the equator before
Prince Henry died.^ His
successors continued the good
work, the equator was crossed,
and in 1487 Dias passed the
Cape of Good Hope and sailed
eastward till his sailors mu-
tinied. Ten years later Vasco
da Gama sailed around the
end of Africa, up the east
coast, and on to India, and
brought home a cargo of
eastern products. A way to India by water was at last made
known to Europe.^

Columbus plans a Route. — Meanwhile Christopher Colum-
bus^ planned what he thought would be a shorter ocean route

1 Prince Henry was the fourth son of John I, king of Portugal. In 1419 he
established his home on Cape St. Vincent, gathered about him a body of trained
seamen, and during forty years sent out almost every year an exploring expedi-
tion. His pilots discovered the Azores and the Madeira Islands. He died in 1460.
His great work was training seamen. Many men afterward famous as discoverers
and navigators, as Dias (dee'ahss), Da Gama (dah gah'ma), Cabral (ca-brahl'),
Magel'lan, and Columbus, served under Henry or his successors.

In those days there were neither steamships nor such sailing vessels as we
have. For purposes of exploration the caravel was used. It was from 60 to 100
feet long, and from 18 to 25 feet broad, and had three masts from the heads
of which were swung great sails. Much of the steering was done by turning tliese
sails. Yet it was in such little vessels that some of the most famous voyages in
history were made.

2 These voyages were possible because of the great progress which had re-
cently been made in the art of navigation. The magnetic compass enabled
seamen to set their course when the sun and stars could not be seen. The astro-
labe (picture, p. 35) made it possible roughly to estimate distances from the
equator, or latitude. These instruments enabled mariners to go on long voyages
far from land. Bead the account of the Portuguese voyages in Fiske's Discovery
of America, Vol. I, pp. 294-334.

8 Christopher Columbus was a native of Genoa, Italy, where he was bom
about 1436. He was the son of a wool comber. At fourteen he began a seafar-
ing life, and between voyages made charts and globes. About 1470 he wan-
dered to Portugal, went on one or two voyages down the African coast, and on
another (1477) went as far north as Iceland. Meantime (1473) he married a
Portuguese woman and made his home at the Madeira Islands ; and it was while
living there that he formed the plan of finding a new route to the far East.

12 DISCOVERY And exploration

to the East. He had studied all that was known of geography
in his time. He had carefully noted the results of recent
voyages of exploration. He had read the travels of Marco
Polo^ and had learned that off the coast of China was a rich
and wonderful island which Polo called Cipango. He believed
that the earth is a sphere, and that China and Cipango could
be reached by sailing about 2500 miles due westward across
the Atlantic.

Columbus seeks Aid. — To make others think so was a hard
task, for nearly everybody believed the earth to be flat, and
several sovereigns were appealed to before one was found bold
enough to help him. He first applied to the king of Portugal,
and when that failed, to the king and queen of Spain. ^ When
they seemed deaf to his appeal, he sent his brother to England,
and at last, wearied with waiting, set off for France. Then
Queen Isabella of Spain was persuaded to act. Columbus was

1 In 1271 Marco Polo, then a lad of seventeen, was taken by his father and
uncle from Venice to the coast of Persia, and thence overland to northwestern
China, to a city where Kublai Khan held his court. They were well received,
and Marco spent many years making journeys in the khan's service. In 1292
they were sent to escort a royal bride for the khan from Peking (in China) to
Tabriz, a city in Persia. They sailed from China in 1292, reached the Persian
coast in 1294, and arrived safely at Tabriz, whence they returned to Venice in
1295. In 1298 Marco was captured in a war with Genoa, and spent about a
year in prison. While thus confined he prepared an account of his travels, one
of the most famous books of the Middle Ages. He described China (or Cathay,
as it was then called), with its great cities teeming with people, its manufactures,
and its wealth, told of Tibet and Burma, the Indian Archipelago with its spice
islands, of Java and Sumatra, of Hindustan, — all from personal knowledge.
From hearsay he told of Japan. In the course of the next seventy-five years
other travelers found their way to Cathay and wrote about it. Thus before 1400
Europe had learned of .a great ocean to the east of Cathay, and of a wonderful
island kingdom, Cipan'go (Japan), which lay off its coast. All this deeply
interested Columbus, and his copy of Marco Polo may still be seen with its mar-
gins full of annotations.

2 These sovereigns were just then engaged in the final struggle for the ex-
pulsion of the Moors from Spain, so they referred the appeal to the queen's
confessor, who laid it before a body of learned men. This council of Salamanca
made sport of the idea, and tried to prove that Columbus was wrong. If the
world were round, they said, people on the other side must walk with their
heads down, which was absurd. And if a ship should sail to the undermost
part, how could it come back ? Could a ship sail up hill ?

THE NEW WORLD FOUND

The council of Salamauca.

recalled,^ ships were provided with which to make the voyage,
and on Friday, the 3d of August, 1492, the Santa Maria
(sahn'tah mah-r^e'ah), the Pinta (peen'tah), and the Nifia
(neen'yah) set sail from Palos (pah'los), on one of the great-
est voyages ever made by men.^

1 On the way to France Columbus stopped, by good luck, at the monastery of
La Rabida (lah rah'bee-dah) , and so interested the prior, Juan Perez (hoo-ahn'
pa'ralh), in his scheme, that a messenger was sent to beg an interview for
Perez with the queen of Spain. It was granted, and so well did Perez plead the
cause of his friend that Columbus was summoned to court. The reward Colum-
bus demanded for any discoveries he might make seemed too great, and was
refused. Thereupon, mounting his mule, he again set off for France. Scarcely
had he started when the royal treasurer rushed into the presence of the queen
and persuaded her to send a messenger to bring Columbus back. Then his
terms were accepted. He was to be admiral of all the islands and countries he
might discover, and have a part of all the gems, gold, and silver found in them.

2 The vessels were no larger than modern yachts. The Santa Maria was
single-decked and ninety feet long. The Pinta and Nina (picture, p. 11) were
smaller caravels, and neither was decked amidships. In 1893 reproductions of
the three vessels, full size and as exact as possible, were sent across the sea by
Spain, and exhibited at the World's Fair in Chicago.

14 DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION

The Voyage Westward. — The little fleet went first to the
Canary Islands and thence due west across the Sea of Darkness,
as the Atlantic was called. The voyage was delightful, but every
sight and sound was a source of new terror to the sailors. An
eruption of a volcano at the Canaries was watched with dread as
an omen of evil. They crossed the line of no magnetic variation,
and when the needle of the compass began to change its usual
direction, they were sure it was bewitched. They entered the
great Sargasso Sea and were frightened out of their wits by
the strange expanse of floating vegetation. They entered the
zone of the trade winds, and as the breeze, day after day,
steadily wafted them westward, the boldest feared it would be
impossible to return. When a mirage and flights of strange

Sea monsters drawn on old maps.

birds raised hopes that were not promptly realized, the sailors
were sure they had entered an enchanted realm .^

Land Discovered. — Columbus, who was above such fear,
explained the unusual sights, calmed the fears of the sailors,
hid from them the true distance sailed,^ and steadily pursued
his way till unmistakable signs of land were seen. A staff
carved by hand and a branch with berries on it floated by.
Excitement now rose high, and a reward was promised to the
man who first saw land. At last, on the night of October 11,

1 The ideas of geography held by the unlearned of those days are very curious
to us. They believed that near the equator was a fiery zone where the sea boiled
and no life existed ; that hydras, gorgons, chimeras, and all sorts of horrid
monsters inhabited the Sea of Darkness ; and that in the Indian Ocean was a
lodestone mountain that could draw nails out of ships. Because of the way in
which ships disappeared below the horizon, it was believed that they went down
hill, and that if they went too far they could never get back.

2 The object of Columbus was not to let the sailors know how far they were
from home.

THE NEW WORLD FOUND

Columbus beheld a light moving as if carried by hand along a
shore. A few hours later a sailor on the Pinta saw land dis-
tinctly, and soon all beheld, a few miles away, a long, low
beach. 1

The Voyage among the Islands. — Columbus thought he had
found one of the islands of the Indies, as the southern and

1 Columbus was not the first European to reach the New World. About
six hundred years earlier, Vikings from Norway settled in Iceland, and from the

Ancient Viking ship found buried in Norway.

Icelandic chronicles we learn that about 986 a.d. Eric the Red planted. a colony
in Greenland. His son, Leif Ericsson, about 1000 a.d., led a party south-
westward to a stony country which was probably the coast of Labrador or
Newfoundland. Going on southward, they came at last to a spot where wild
grapes grew. To this spot, probably on the New England coast, Leif gave
the name Vinland, spent the winter there, and in the spring went back to
Greenland with a load of timber. The next year Leif's brother sailed to Vinland
and passed two winters there. In later years others went, but none remained
long, and the land was soon forgotten. Iceland and Greenland were looked
upon as part of Europe ; and the Vikings* discoveries had no influence on
Columbus and the explorers who followed him. Read Fiske's Discovery of
America^ Vol. I. pp. 148-256 ; and Longfellow's Skeleton in Armor.

16 DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION

eastern parts of Asia were called. Dressed in scarlet and
gold and followed by a band of his men bearing banners, he
landed, fell on his knees, and having given thanks to God, took
possession for Spain and called the island San Salvador (sahn
sahl-va-dor'), which means Holy Savior. The day was Octo-
ber 12, 1492, and the island was one of the Bahamas. ^

After giving red caps, beads, and trinkets to the natives who
crowded about him, Columbus set sail to explore the group
and presently came in sight of the coast of Cuba, which he
at first thought was Cipango. Sailing eastward, landing now
and then to seek for gold, he reached the eastern end of Cuba,
and soon beheld the island of Haiti ; this so reminded him of
Spain that he called it Hispaniola, or Little Spain.

The First Spanish Colony in the New World. — When off the
Cuban shore, the Pinta deserted Columbus. On the coast of
Haiti the Santa Maria was wrecked. To carry all his men back
to Spain in the little Nifia was impossible. Such, therefore,
as were willing were left at Haiti, and founded La Navidad,
the first colony of Europeans in the New World.^ This done,
Columbus sailed for home, taking with him ten natives, and
specimens of the products of tlie lands he had discovered.

The Voyage Home. — The Pinta was overtaken off the
Haitian coast, but a dreadful storm parted the ships once
more, and neither again saw the other till the day when, but
a few hours apart, they dropped anchor in the haven of Palos,
whence they had sailed seven months before. As the newi
spread, the people went wild with joy. The journey of Colum
bus to Barcelona was a triumphal procession. At Barcelon
he was received with great ceremony by the king and queen,

1 Nobody knows just which of the Bahamas Columbus discovered. Three
of the group — Cat, Turks, and Watling — each claim the honor. At present
Watling is believed to have been San Salvador. A good account of the voyage
is given in Irving's Life and Voyages of Columbus, Vol. I, Book iii, and i:
Fiske's Discovery of Amenca, Vol. I, pp. 408-442.

2 When Columbus on his second voyage returned to Hispaniola, he found
that every one of the forty colonists had perished. They had been killed by the
natives.

THE NEW WORLD FOUND

SCALE OF MILES
0 100 200 300 l60 600 600

^* The.landsdlscovered.by Columbus
■^ are shown in solid black.

PORTO RICO

_(bobiquen)

DOMINICA

The West Indies — showing the discoveries of Columbus.

and soon afterward was sent back with many ships and men
to found a colony and make further explorations in the Indies.
Other Voyages of Columbus. — In all Columbus made four
voyages to the New World. On the second (1493) he discovered
Porto Rico, Jamaica, and other islands. On the third (1498)
he saw the mainland of South America at the mouth of the
Orinoco River.i On the fourth (1502-4) he sailed along the
shores of Central America. Returning to Spain, he died poor,
neglected, and broken-hearted in 1506.^

1 Despite the great thing he did for Spain, Columbus lost favor at court.
Evil men slandered him ; his manner of governing the new lands was falsely
represented to the king and queen ; a new governor was sent out, and Columbus
was brought back in chains. Though soon released, he was never restored to
his rights.

2 Columbus was buried at Valladolid, in Spain, but in 1513 his body was
taken to a monastery at Seville. There it remained till 1536, when it was carried
to Santo Domingo in Haiti. In 1796 it was removed and buried with imposing
ceremonies at Havana in Cuba. In 1898, when Spain was di'iven from Cuba,
his bones were carried back to Seville.

McM. BRIEF — 2

18 DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION

Columbus believed he reached the Indies. — To his dying
day Columbus was ignorant of the fact that he had led the way
to a new continent. He supposed he had reached the Indies.
The lands he discovered were therefore spoken of as the Indies,
and their inhabitants were called Indians, a name given in time
to the copper-colored natives of both North and South America.

Spain's Claim to New-found Lands. — One of the first results
of the discoveries of Columbus was an appeal to the Pope for a
bull securing to Spain the heathen lands discovered ; for a bull
had secured to Portugal the discoveries of her mariners along
the coast of Africa. Pope Alexander VI accordingly drew a
north and south line one hundred leagues west of the Cape
Verde Islands, and gave to Spain all she might discover to the
west of it, reserving to Portugal all she might discover to the
east. A year later (1494) Spain and Portugal by treaty moved
the "Line of Demarcation" to three hundred and seventy leagues
west of the Cape Verde Islands (map, p. 20), and on this agree-
ment, approved by the Pope, Spain rested her claim to America.

SUMMARY

1. For many centuries before the discovery of America, Europe had
been trading with the far East.

2. The routes of this trade were being closed by the Turks.

3. Columbus believed a new route could be found by sailing due west-
ward from Europe.

4. After many years of fruitless effort to secure aid to test his plan, he
obtained help from Spain.

5. On his first voyage westward Columbus discovered the Bahama
Islands, Cuba, and Haiti ; on his later voyages, various other lands about the
Caribbean Sea.

6. In the belief that he had reached the Indies, the lands Columbus
found were called the Indies, and their inhabitants Indians.

CHAPTER II
THE ATLANTIC COAST AND THE PACIFIC DISCOVERED

The Atlantic Coast Line Explored. — Columbus having shown
the way, English, Spanish, and Portuguese explorers followed.
Some came in search of China or the Spice Islands ; some were
in quest of gold and pearls. The result was the exploration of
the Atlantic coast line from Labrador to the end of South
America.

Some Famous Voyages. — In 1497 John Cabot, sailing from
England, reached Newfoundland, which he believed to be part
of China. ^ In 1498 John Cabot and his son Sebastian, while

Record of payment of John Cabot's pension for 1499.^

Photographed from the original accounts of the Bristol customs collectors, now in Westminster

Abbey, London.

1 This discovery made a great stir in Bristol, the port from which Cabot sailed.
A letter written at the time states, " Honors are heaped upon Cabot. He is
called Grand Admiral, he is dressed in silk, and the English run after him like
madmen." The king gave him £10 and a pension of £20 a year. A pound
sterling in those days was in purchasing power quite the equal of fifty dollars
in our time.

2 BristoU — Arthurus Kemys et Ricardus ap. Meryke collectores custumarum
et subsidiorum regis ibidem a festo Sancti Michaelis Archangel! anno xiiiimo
Regis nunc usque idem festum Sancti Michaelis tunc proximo sequens reddunt
computum de mccccxxiiii li. vii s. x d. quadr. De quibus. . . . Item in
thesauro in una tallia pro Johanne Cabot, xx li. Translation: "Bristol —
Arthur Kemys and Richard ap Meryke, collectors of the king's customs and
subsidies there, from Michaelmas in the fourteenth year of this king's reign
[Henry VII] till the same feast next following render their account of £ 1424
7 s. 10 J d. . . . In the treasury is one tally for John Cabot, £ 20."

Discovery on the east coast of Amecica
20

THE ATLANTIC COAST 21

in search of the Spice Islands, sailed along the coast from New-
foundland to what is now South Carolina. ^

Before 1500 Spaniards in search of gold, or pearls, or new
lands had explored the coast line from Central America to
Cape St. Roque.2

In 1500 Cabral, while on his way from Portugal to India
by Da Gama's route (p. 11), sailed so far westward that he
sighted the coast of the country now called Brazil. Cabral
went on his way ; but sent back a ship to the king of Portugal
with the news that the new-found land lay east of the Line of
Demarcation. The king dispatched (1501) an expedition which
explored the coast southward nearly as far as the mouth of the
Plata River.

Some Results of these Voyages. — The results of these voy-
ages were many and important. They furnished a better
knowledge of the coast ; they proved the existence of a great
mass of land called the New World, but still supposed to be a
part of Asia ; they secured Brazil for Portugal, and led to the
naming of our continent.

Why the New World was called America. — In the party sent
by the king of Portugal to explore the coast of Brazil, was an
Italian named Amerigo Vespucci (ah-ma'ree-go ves-poot'chee),
or Americus Vespucius, who had twice before visited the coast
of South America. Of these three voyages and of a fourth
Vespucius wrote accounts. They were widely read, led to the
belief that he had discovered a new or fourth part of the world,
and caused a German professor of geography to suggest that
this fourth part should be called America. The name was
applied first to what is now Brazil, then to all South America,
and finally also to North America, when it was found, long

1 These voyages of Cabot were not followed up at the time. But in the days
of Queen Elizabeth, more than eighty years later, they were made the basis of
the English claim to a part of North America.

2 On one of these voyages the Spaniards saw an Indian village built over the
water on piles, with bridges joining the houses. This so reminded them of Ven-
ice that they called it Venezuela (little Venice), a name afterward applied to a
vast extent of country.

22 DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION

Nucj^o &h5 partes font IatiusluftratJc/&aKa
quaitaparspcrAmcric5Ve{putiu(vt in fequenti
bus audictur )inucnta eft/qua non video cur quis
iure vetet ab Americo inucntorc fagacis ingcnij vi
Ameri^ ro Amcrigen quafi Ametid terra /Cue Americam
ca dicendarcu 8c Europa 8c Afia a mulieribus fua for

tita fiiit noinina^Bius fitu & gentis- mores ex bis bi
nis Amerid nauigacionibus quai; fequuiicliquide
iiitelligidatun

The first printed suggestion of the name America^

Part of a page from Waldseemuller's book Cosmographie Introditctio, printed in 150T, now in the
Lenox Library, New York.

afterward, that North America was part of the new continent
and not part of Asia.

Balboa discovers the Pacific. — The man who led the way to
the discovery that America was not part of Asia was Balbo'a.2
He came to the eastern border of Panama (1510) with a band
of Spaniards seeking gold. There they founded the town of
Darien and in time made Balboa their commander. He mar-
ried the daughter of a chief, made friends with the Indians,
and heard from them of a great body of water across the moun-
tains. This he determined to see, and in 1513, with Indian
guides and a party of Spaniards, made his way through dense
and tangled forests and from the summit of a mountain looked
down on the Pacific Ocean, which he called the South Sea.

1 " But now these parts [Europe, Asia, and Africa] have been more widely
explored, and another fourth part has been discovered by Americus Vespucius
(as will appear in the following pages); so I do not see why any one should
rightly object to calling it Amerige or America, i.e. land of Americus, after its
discoverer Americus, a man of sagacious mind — since both Europe and Asia are
named after women. Its situation and the ways of its people may be clearly
understood from the four voyages of Americus which follow."

2 Vasco Nuflez de Balboa had come from Spain to Haiti and settled down as
a planter, but when (1510) an expedition was about to sail for South America
to plant a colony near Panama, Balboa longed to join it. He was in debt ; so
lest his creditors should prevent his going, he had himself nailed up in a barrel
and put on board one of the ships with the provisions.

THE PACIFIC OCEAN

Four days later, standing on the shore, he waited till the rising
tide came rolling in, and then rushing into the water, sword in
hand, he took possession of the ocean
in the name of Spain. ^

The Pacific Crossed ; the Philippines
Discovered. — The Portuguese mean-
time, by sailing around Africa, had
reached the Spice Islands. So far
beyond India were these islands that
the Portuguese sailor Ferdinand Ma-
gellan took up the old idea of Colum-
bus, and maintained that they could
be most easily reached by sailing
west. To this proposition the king

1 In the course of expeditions along the
eastern coast of Mexico, the Spaniards heard
of a mighty king, Montezuma, who ruled many
cities in the interior and had great stores of
gold. In 1519 Cor'tes landed with 460 men
and a few horses, sank his ships, and began
inland one of the most wonderful marches
in all history. The account of the great things
which he did, of the marvelous cities he con-
quered, of the strange and horrible sights he
saw, reads like fiction. Six days after reaching
the city of Mexico, he seized Montezuma and
made himself thv? real ruler of the country ;
but later the Mexicans rose against him and he
had to conquer them by hard fighting. Eead
the story of the conquest as briefly told in Fiske's Discovery of America^ Vol.
II, pp. 245-293.

The Spaniards also heard rumors of a golden kingdom to the southward
where the Incas ruled. After preliminary voyages of exploration Francisco
Pizarro sailed from Panama in 1531 with 200 men and 50 horses to conquer Peru.
Landing on the coast he marched inland to the camp of the Inca, a young
man who had just seized the throne. The sight of the white strangers clad in
shining armor, wielding thunder and lightning (firearms), and riding unearthly
beasts (horses were unknown to the Indians), caused wonder and dread in
Peru as it had in Mexico. The Inca was made prisoner and hundreds of his
followers were killed. He offered to fill his prison room with gold as high as he
could reach if Pizarro would set him free ; the offer was accepted and in 1533
some $15,000,000 in gold was divided among the conquerors. The Inca, how-
ever, was put to death, and the Spaniards took possession of the whole country.

Spanish helmet and shirt of

mail found in Mexico.
Now in Essex Hall, Salem, Mass.

24 DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION

of Portugal would not listen ; so Magellan persuaded the king
of Spain to let him try ; and in 1519 set sail with five small ships.
He crossed the Atlantic to the mouth of the Plata, and went
south till storms and cold drove him into winter quarters.^
In August, 1520 (early spring in the southern hemisphere),
he went on his way and entered the strait which now bears his
name. One of the ships had been wrecked. In the strait
another stole away and went home. The three remaining ves-
sels passed safely through, and out into an ocean so quiet com-
pared with the stormy Atlantic that Magellan called it the
Pacific. Across this the explorers sailed for Q.Ye months before
they came to a group of islands which Magellan called the
Ladrones (Spanish for robbers^ because the natives were so
thievish. 2 Ten days later they reached another group, after-
ward named the Philippines. ^

On one of these islands Magellan and many of his men were
slain.* Two of the ships then went southward to the Spice
Islands, where they loaded with spices. One now started for
Panama, but was forced to return. The other sailed around
Africa, and in 1522 reached Spain in safety. It had sailed
around the world. The surviving captain was greatly hon-

1 None of Magellan's vessels were as large as the Santa Maria^ and three .
were smaller than the Nina. The sailors demanded that Magellan return to
Spain. When he refused, the captains and crews of three ships mutinied, and
were put down with difficulty.

2 Guam, which now belongs to our country, is one of the Ladrones.

8 The Spaniards took possession of the Philippines a few years later, and in
1571 founded Manila. The group was named after Philip II of Spain. In 1555
a Spanish navigator discovered the Hawaiian Islands ; but though they were put
down on the early Spanish charts, the Spaniards did not take possession of them.
Indeed, these islands were practically forgotten, and two centuries passed before
they were rediscovered by the English explorer. Captain Cook, in 1778.

* Magellan was a very religious man, and after making an alliance with the
king of the island of Cebu, he set about converting the natives to Christianity.
The king, greatly impressed by the wonders the white man did, consented. A
bonfire was lighted, the idols were thrown in, a cross was set up, and the natives
were baptized. This done, the king called on Magellan to help him attack the
chief of a neighboring island; but in the attack Magellan was killed and his
men put to flight. This defeat so angered the king that he invited thirty
Spaniards to a feast, massacred them, cut down the cross, and again turned
pagan.

THE ATLANTIC COAST

ored. The king ennobled him, and on his coat of arms was
a globe with the motto " You first sailed around me."

Results of the Voy-
age.— Of all the voyages
ever made by man up to
that time, this of Magel-
lan and his men was the
greatest. It gave posi-
tive proof that the earth
is a sphere. It revealed
the vast width of the
Pacific. It showed that
America was probably
not a part of Asia, and
changed the geograph-
ical ideas of the time.^

Magellan's ship that sailed around the world.

The Coast of Florida Explored. — What meantime had hap-
pened along the coast of North America? In 1513 Ponce de
Leon 2 (pon'tha da la-6n'), a Spaniard, sailed northwest from
Porto Rico in search of an island which the Indians told him
contained gold, and in which he believed was a fountain or
stream whose waters would restore youth to the old. In the
season of Easter, or Pascua Florida, he came upon a land
which he called Florida. Ponce supposed he had found an
island, and following the coast southward went round the
peninsula and far up the west coast before going back to Porto
Rico. 8

1 Head the account in Fiske's Discovery of America., Vol. II, pp. 190-211.

2 Juan Ponce- de Leon had sailed with Columbus on his second voyage, and
had settled in Haiti. Hearing that there was gold in Porto Rico, he explored it
for Spain, in 1609 was made its governor, and in 1511 founded the city of San
Juan (sahn hoo-ahn'). After he was removed from the governorship, he
obtained leave to search for the island of Bimini.

3 He now obtained authority to colonize the supposed island ; but several
years passed before he was ready to make the attempt. He then set off with
arms, tools, horses, and two hundred men, landed on the west coast of Florida,
lost many men in a fight with the Indians, and received a wound of which he
died soon after in Cuba.

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION

Spanish explorations in North America to x6oo.

The Gulf Coast Explored. — In 1519 another Spaniard, Pi-
neda (pe-na'da), sailed along the Gulf coast from Florida to
Mexico. On the way he entered the mouth of a broad river
which he named River of the Holy Spirit. It was long sup-
posed that this river was the Mississippi ; but it is now claimed
to have been the Mobile. Whatever it was, Pineda spent
six weeks in its waters, saw many Indian towns on its banks,
traded with the natives, and noticed that they wore gold orna-
ments.

The Expedition of Narvaez. — Pineda's story of Indians with
gold ornaments so excited Narvaez (nar-vah'eth) that he obtained
leave to conquer the country, and sailed from Cuba with four
hundred men. Landing on the west coast of Florida, he made
a raid inland. When he returned to the coast the ships which
were sailing about watching for him were nowhere to be seen.
After marching westward for a month the Spaniards built five
small boats, put to sea, and sailing near the shore came pres-
ently to where the waters of the Mississippi rush into the Gulf.

THE ATLANTIC COAST 27

Two boats were upset by the surging waters. The others
reached the coast beyond, where all save four of the Spaniards
perished.

Four Spaniards cross the Continent. — After suffering great
hardships and meeting with all sorts of adventures among the
Indians, the four survivors, led by Cabeza de Vaca (ca-ba'tha
da vah'ca), walked across what is now Texas, New Mexico,
Arizona, and Mexico to a little Spanish town near the Pacific
coast. They had crossed the continent.^

New Mexico Explored. — Cabeza de Vaca had wonderful
tales to relate of " hunchback cows," as he called the buffalo,
and of cities in the interior where gold and silver were plenti-
ful and where the doorways were studded with precious stones.^

Excited by these tales, the Spanish viceroy of Mexico sent
Fray Marcos to gather further information.^ Aided by the
Indians, Marcos made his way over the desert and came at
last to the "cities," which were only the pueblos of the Zuui
(zoo'nyee) Indians in New Mexico. The pueblos were houses
several stories high, built of stone or of sun-dried brick, and
each large enough for several hundred Indians to live in. But
Marcos merely saw them at a distance, for one of his followers
who went in advance was killed by the Zuni, whereupon Marcos
fled back to Mexico.

The Spaniards reach Kansas. — Marcos's reports about the
seven cities of Cibola (see' bo-la), as he called them, aroused

1 The story of this remarkable march across the continent is told in The
Spanish Pioneers, by C. F. Lummis.

2 There was a tradition in Europe that when the Arabs conquered Spain in
the eighth century, a certain bishop with a goodly following fled to some islands
far out in the Sea of Darkness and founded seven cities. When the Spaniards
came in contact with the Indians of Mexico, they were told of seven caves from
which the ancestoi-s of the natives had issued, and jumped to the conclusion that
the seven caves were the seven cities ; and when Cabeza de Vaca came with his
story of the wonderful cities of the north, it was believed that they were the
towns built by the bishop.

8 At an Indiaji village in Mexico, Marcos heard of a country to the north-
ward where there were seven cities with houses of two, three, and four stories, and
that of the chief with five. On the doorsills and lintels of the best houses, he
was told, were turquoise stones.

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION

■^

^^^L^L^m^Mt

m^-^^-'-^-

"'-- ti

f -

Pueblo, wooden plow, and ox cart.

great interest, and Corona' do was sent with an army to con-
quer them. Marching up the east coast of the Gulf of Cali-
fornia and across Arizona, Coronado came at last to the pueblos
and captured them one by one. He found no gold, but did see
doorways studded with the green stones of the Rocky Moun-
tains. Much disappointed, he pushed on eastward, and during
two years wandered about over the plains of our great South-
west and probably reached the center of what is now Kansas.^
De Soto on the Mississippi. — As Coronado was making his
way home, an Indian woman escaped from his army, and while
wandering about fell in with a band of Spaniards belonging to
the army of De Soto.^

1 Read The Spanish Pioneers, by C. F. Lummis, pp. 77-88, 101-143. The
year that Coronado returned to Mexico (1542) an expedition under Cabrillo
(kah-breel'yo) coasted from Mexico along what is now California. Cabrillo died
in San Diego harbor.

2 Hernando de Soto was bom about 1500 in Spain, and when of age went
to Panama and thence to Peru with Pizarro. In the conquest of Peru he so dis-
tinguished himself that on returning to Spain he was made governor of Cuba.

THE ATLANTIC COAST 29

De Soto, as governor of Cuba, had been authorized to
conquer and hold all the territory that had been discovered by
Narvaez. He set out accordingly in 1539, landed an army at
Tampa Bay, and spent three years in wandering over Florida,
Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. In the spring of 1542 he
crossed the Mississippi River and entered Arkansas, and it was
there that one of his bands met the Indian woman who escaped
from Coronado's army. In Arkansas De Soto died of fever,
and was buried in the Mississippi River. His followers then
built a few boats, floated down the river to the Gulf, and
following the coast of Texas came finally to the Spanish settle-
ments in Mexico.

The French on the Coast. — Far to the northeast explorers of
another European nation by this time were seeking a foothold.
When John Cabot came home from his first voyage to the
Newfoundland coast, he told such tales of cod fisheries there-
abouts, that three small ships set sail from England to catch
fish and trade with the natives of the new-found isle. Portu-
guese and Frenchmen followed, and year after year visited the
Newfoundland fisheries. No serious attempt was made to settle
the island. What Europe wanted was a direct westward
passage through America to Cathay. This John Verrazano,
an Italian sailing under the flag of France, attempted to find,
and came to what is now the coast of North Carolina. There
Verrazano turned northward, entered several bays along the
coast, sailed by the rock-bound shores of Maine, and when off
Newfoundland steered for France.

The French on the St. Lawrence. — Verrazano was followed
(1534) by Jacques Cartier (zhak car-tya'), also in search of a
passage to Cathay. Reaching Newfoundland (map, p. 114),
Cartier passed through the strait to the north of it, and explored
a part of the gulf to the west. A year later he came again,
named the gulf St. Lawrence, and entered the St. Lawrence
River, which he thought was a strait leading to China. Up
this river he sailed till stopped by the rapids which he named
Lachine (Chinese). Near by was a high hill which he called

30 DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION

Mont Real (re-ahl'), or Mount Royal. At its base now stands
the city of Montreal.^ From this place the French went back to
a steep cliff where now stands the city of Quebec, and, it is be-
lieved, spent the win-

Indian long house ^^^ discouraged,

Cartier (1641) came a
third time to plant a colony on the river. But hunger, mutiny,
and the severity of the winter brought the venture to naught.^
No Settlements in our Country. — From the first voyage of
Columbus to the expeditions of De Soto, Coronado, and Car-
tier, fifty years had passed. The coast of the new continent
had been roughly explored as far north as Labrador on the
east and California on the west. The Spaniards in quest of
gold and silver mines had conquered and colonized the West
Indies, Mexico, and parts of South America. Yet not a settle-
ment had been made in our country. Many rivers and bays

1 Landing on this spot, Cartier set forth to visit the great Indian village of
Hochelaga. He found it surrounded with a palisade of tree trunks set in three
rows. Entering the narrow gate, he beheld some fifty long houses of sapling
frames covered with bark, each containing many fires, one for a family. From
these houses came swarms of women and children, who crowded about the
visitors, touched their beards, and patted their faces. Soon the warriors came
and squatted row after row around the French, for whom mats were brought
and laid on the ground. This done, the chief, a paralyzed old savage, was car-
ried in, and Cartier was besought by signs to heal him, and when Cartier had
touched him, all the sick, lame, and blind in the village were brought out for
treatment. Read Parkman's Pioneers of France in the New World, pp. 187-
193.

2 As Cartier was on his way home he stopped at the harbor of St. Johns in
Newfoundland, a harbor then frequented by fishermen from the Old World.
There he was met by three ships and 200 colonists under Roberval, who ordered
him to return. But one night Cartier slipped away in the darkness. Roberval
went on to the site of Quebec and there planted his colony. What became of
it is not known ; but that it did not last long is certain, and many years passed
before France repeated the attempt to gain a foothold on the great river of
Canada.

THE ATLANTIC COAST 31

had been discovered ; two great expeditions had gone into
the interior ; but there were no colonies on the mainland of
what is now the United States.

SUMMARY

1. The voyage of Columbus led to many other voyages, prompted
chiefly by a hope of finding gold. They resulted in the exploration of the
coast of America, and may be grouped according to the parts explored,
as follows: —

2. The Atlantic coast of North America was explored (1497-1535) by
Cabot (for England) — from Newfoundland to South Carolina.

Ponce de Leon (for Spain) — peninsula of Florida.

Verrazano (for France) — from North Carolina to Newfoundland.

Cartier (for France) — Gulf of St. Lawrence.

3. The Gulf and Caribbean coasts of North America were explored
(1502-1528) for Spain by

Columbus — Central America.

Ponce de Leon — Mest coast of Florida.

Pineda — from Florida to Mexico.

Narvaez expedition — from Florida to Texas.

4. The Atlantic coast of South America was explored (1498-1520) by
Columbus — mouth of the Orinoco.

Other explorers for Spain — whole northern coast.

Cabral (for Portugal) — part of eastern coast.

Vespucius (for Portugal) — eastern coast nearly to the Plata River.

Magellan (for Spain) — to the Strait of Magellan.

5. The Pacific coast of America was explored (1613-1542) for Spain by
Balboa — part of Panama.

Magellan — part of the southwest coast.

Pizarro (note, p. 23) — from Panama to Peru.

Cabrillo (note, p. 28) — from Mexico up the coast of California.

6. The Spaniards early established colonies in the West Indies,
South America, and Mexico; but fifty years after Columbus's discovery
there was no settlement of Europeans in the mainland part of the United
States. Several Spanish expeditions, however, had explored (1534-1542)
large parts of the interior : —

Cabeza de Vaca and his companions walked from Texas to western Mexico.

Coronado wandered from Mexico to Kansas.

De Soto wandered from Florida beyond the Mississippi River.

CHAPTER III

FRANCE AND ENGLAND ATTEMPT TO SETTLE AMERICA

The French in South Carolina. — After the failure in
Canada twenty years passed away before the French again

attempted to colonize. Then
(1562) Admiral Coligny (co-
leen'ye), the leader of the
Huguenots, or Protestants of
France, sought to plant a col-
ony in America for his perse-
cuted countrymen, and sent
forth an expedition under
Ribaut (ree-bo'). These
Frenchmen reached the coast
of Florida, and turning north-
ward came to a haven which
they called Port Royal. Here
they built a fort in what is
now South Carolina. Leaving thirty men to hold it, Ribaut
sailed for France. Famine, homesickness, ignorance of life in
a wildernegs, soon brought the colony to ruin. Unable to en-
dure their hardships longer, the colonists built a crazy boat,^
put to sea, and when off the French coast were rescued by an
English vessel.

The French in Florida. — Two years later (1564) Coligny
tried again, and sent forth a colony under Laudonniere

1 The forests supplied the trees for timbers. The seams were calked with
the moss that hung in clusters from the branches, and then smeared with pitch
from the pines. The Indians made them a rude sort of rope for cordage, and
for sails they sewed together bedding and shirts. On the voyage home they ate
their shoes and leather jerkins. Read Kirk Munroe's Flamingo Feather,

ll / )

H / ll

-^^

^Wx. /

\ i

'^X

4^^ 1

\ ^

\ <^^ w

^ \

"% J^ N II

\ Uy ^

. \

■>

>7il yi»ort Royal ^

-r

i<^/^

V ^ ^

^^^

^j V >

r V ^

^ {

vFort Caroline

< St. Augustine

\ SCALE OF MILES

13*

^ i 6 25 ^0 76 l60

The first settlements in the South.

PRANCE ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE AMERICA

Fort Caroline. From an old print.

(lo-do-ne-air'). It reached the coast of Florida, and a few
miles up the St. Johns River built a fort called Caroline in
honor of the French
King Charles. The next
year there came more
colonists under Ribaut.^

The Spaniards found
St. Augustine. — Now it
so happened that just at
this time a Spaniard
named Menendez (ma-
nen'deth) had obtained
leave to conquer and set-
tle Florida. Before he
could set off, news came
to Spain, that the French were on the St. Johns River, and
Menendez was sent with troops to drive them out. He landed
in Florida in 1565 and built a fort which was the beginning of
St. Augustine, the first permanent settlement on the mainland
part of the United States. Ribaut at once sailed to attack it.
But while he was at sea Menendez marched overland, took Fort
Caroline, and put to death every man there, save a few who
made good their escape. ^

Spain holds America. — More than seventy years had now
passed since Columbus made his great voyage of discovery.
Yet, save some Portuguese settlements in Brazil, the only Euro-
pean colonies in America were Spanish. From St. Augustine,

I 1 These men were adventurers, not true colonists, and little disposed to en-
dure the toil, hunger, and dreariness of a life in the wilderness. It was not long,
therefore, before the boldest of them seized two little vessels and sailed away to
plunder Spaniards in the West Indies. Famine drove them into Havana, where
to save their necks they told what was going on in Florida. Sixty-six mutineers
presently seized two other vessels and turned buccaneers. But the survivors
were forced to return to Fort Caroline, where the leaders were put to death.

2 Some of these and many others, who were shipwrecked with Ribaut, after-
ward surrendered and were killed. As Florida was considered Spanish ter-
ritory the French had no right to settle there, so the French king did nothing
more than protest to Spain. Read the story of the French in Florida as told by
Parkman, in Pioneers of France in the New Worlds pp. 28-162.

McM. BRIEF 3

34 DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION

around the Gulf of Mexico, down South America to the Strait
of Magellan and up the west coast to California, save the
foothold of Portugal, island and mainland belonged to Spain.
And all the rest of North America she claimed.

English Attacks on Spain in the New World. — So far in the
sixteenth century England had taken little or no part in the
work of discovery, exploration, and settlement. Her fisher-
men came to the Banks of Newfoundland; but not till 1562,
in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, did the contact of England
with the New World really begin. Then it was that Sir John
Hawkins, one of England's great " sea kings," went to Africa,
loaded his ships with negroes, sold them to planters in Haiti,
and came home with hides and pearls. Such trade for one not
a Spaniard was against the law of Spain. But Hawkins cared
not, and came again and again. When foul weather drove
him into a Mexican port, the Spaniards sank most of his ships,
but Hawkins escaped with two vessels, in one of which was
Francis Drake. ^

Smarting under defeat, Drake resolved to be avenged. Fit-
ting out a little squadron at his own cost, without leave of the
queen, Drake (1572) sailed to the Caribbean Sea, plundered
Spanish towns along the coast, captured Spanish ships, and
went home loaded with gold, silver, and merchandise. ^

Drake sails around the Globe. — During this raid on the
Spanish coast Drake marched across the Isthmus of Panama
and looked down upon Balboa's great South Sea. As he looked,
he resolved to sail on it, and in 1577 left England with five
ships on what proved to be the greatest voyage since that
of Magellan. He crossed the Atlantic, sailed down the coast of
South America, and entered the Strait of Magellan. There
four ships deserted, but Drake went on alone up the west coast,
plundering towns and capturing Spanish vessels. To return

1 Read Fiske's Old Virginia and her Neighbours, Vol. I, pp. 19-20.

2 Read Kingsley's Westward Ho ! and Barnes's Drake and his Yeomen.
On returning to England in 1573, Drake reached Plymouth on a Sunday,
during church time. So great was the excitement that the people left the
church during the sermon, in order to get sight of him.

ENGLAND ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE AMERICA

the way he came would have been dangerous, for Spanish cruis-
ers lay in wait. Drake, therefore, went on up the coast in
search of a passage through the continent
to the Atlantic. Coasting as far as south-
ern Oregon and finding no passage, Drake
turned southward, entered a harbor, re-
paired his ship, and then started westward
across the Pacific. He touched at the
Philippines, visited the Spice Islands, came
home by way of the Cape of Good Hope,
and won the glory of being the first Eng-
lishman to sail around the globe. ^

The English in the Far North. — While
Drake was on his voyage around the
world, Martin Frob'isher discovered Hud-
son Strait,^ and Sir Humphrey Gilbert
failed in an attempt to plant a colony
somewhere in America. The failure was
disheartening. But the return of Drake laden with spoil
aroused new interest in America, and (in 1583) Gilbert led-
a colony to Newfoundland. Disaster after disaster overtook
him, and while he was on his way home with two vessels
(all that were left of five), one with Gilbert on board went
down at sea.^

The English on Roanoke Island. — The work of colonization
then passed to Sir Walter Raleigh, a half-brother of Gilbert.
He began by sending out a party of explorers who sailed along
the coast of North Carolina and brought back such a glowing

Drake's astrolabe.

Now in Greenwich Hospital,
London.

1 On his return in 1580 Queen Elizabeth knighted Drake on his own deck.
A chair made from the timbers of his vessel (the Golden Hind) is now at Oxford.
Read Fiske's Old Virginia and her Neighbours, Vol. I, pp. 26-28.

2 In 1576 Frobisher, when in search of a northwest passage to China, made
his way through Arctic ice to the bay which now bears his name. Two more
voyages were made to the far north in search of gold.

3 The ships were overtaken off the Azores by a furious gale. Gilbert's ves-
sel was a very little one, so he was urged to come aboard his larger consort ;
but he refused to desert his companions, and replied, *' Do not fear ; heaven is a£
near by water as by land."

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION

description of the country that the queen named it Virginia
and Raleigh chose it for the site of a colony. ^

In 1585, accordingly, a party of men commanded by Ralph
Lane were landed on Roanoke Island (map, p. 44). But the
site proved to be ill chosen, and the Indians were hostile. The
colonists were poorly fitted to live in a wilderness, and were
almost starving when Drake, who stopped at Roanoke (1586) to
see how they were getting on, carried them back to England. ^

The Lost Colony. — Not long after Drake sailed away with
the colonists, a party of recruits arrived with supplies. Find-
ing the island deserted, fifteen men remained
to hold the place in the queen's name, and
the rest returned to England. Not dis-
heartened by these reverses, Raleigh sum-
moned some men of influence to his aid,
and (in 1587) sent out a third party of set-
tlers, both men and women, in charge of
John White. This party was to stop at
Roanoke Island, pick up the fifteen men
there, and then go on to Chesapeake Bay.
But for some reason the settlers were left
on the island by the convoy, and there they
Raleigh's pipes. were forced to stay.^

1 Queen Elizabeth had declared she would recognize no Spanish claim to
American territory not founded on discovery and settlement. Raleigh was author-
ized, therefore, to hold by homage heathen lands, not actually possessed and
inhabited by Christian people, which he might discover within the next six years.

2 The colonists took home some tobacco, which at that time was greatly
prized in England. When Columbus reached the island of Cuba in 1492, two of
his followers, sent on an errand into the interior, met natives who rolled certain
dried leaves into tubes, and, lighting one end with a firebrand, drew the smoke
into their bodies and puffed it out. This was the first time that Europeans had
seen cigars smoked. The Spaniards carried tobacco to Europe, and its use spread
rapidly. There is a story to the effect that a servant entering a room one morn-
ing and seeing smoke issuing from Raleigh's mouth, thought he was on fire and
dashed water in his face.

8 On Roanoke Island, August 18, 1587, a girl was bom and named Virginia.
She was the granddaughter of Governor White and the daughter of Eleanor and
Ananias Dare, and the first child of English parents born on the soil of what is
now the United States.

ENGLAND ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE AMERICA

Indians in a dugout canoe.

Part of a drawing by John White.

White very soon went

back to England for help, in

the only ship the colonists

had. War with Spain pre-
vented his return for several

years, and then only the

ruins of the settlement

were found on the island. ^

Spain attacks England. — The war which prevented White

from promptly returning to Roanoke began in 1585. The next

year, with twenty-five ships, Drake
attacked the possessions of Spain in
America, and burned and plundered
several towns. In 1587 he "singed the
beard of the king of Spain " by burn-
ing a hundred vessels in the harbor of
the Spanish city of Cadiz.

Enraged by these defeats, King
Philip II of Spain determined to in-
vade England and destroy that nest
of sea rovers. A great fleet known as
the Invincible Armada, carrying thirty
thousand men, was assembled and
in 1588 swept into the English
Channel. There the English, led
by Ilaleigh,^ Drake, Frobisher, Haw-

English dress, sixteenth century.

Contemporary portrait of Raleigh and
his son, by Zuccaro.

1 The settlers had agreed that if they left Roanoke before White returned,
the name of the place to which they went should be cut on a tree, and a cross
added if they were in distress. When White returned the i)lockhouse was in
ruins, and cut on a tree was the name of a near-by island. A storm prevented
the ship going thither, and despite White's protests he was carried back to Eng-
land. What became of the colony, no man knows.

2 Raleigh was an important figure in English history for many years after
the failure of his Roanoke colony. When Queen Elizabeth died (1603), he
fell into disfavor with her successor, King James I. He was falsely accused of
treason and thrown into prison, where he remained during twelve years. There
he wrote his History of the World. After a short period of liberty, Raleigh
was beheaded. As he stood on the scaffold he asked for the ax, and said, *' This
is a sharp medicine, but a sound cure for all diseases."

38 DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION

kins, Lane, and all the other great sea kings, met the Armada,
drove it into the North Sea, and captured, burned, and
sank many of the ships. The rest fled around Scotland, on
whose coast more were wrecked. Less than half the Armada
returned to Spain. ^

The English explore the New England Coast. — The war
lasted sixteen years longer (till 1604). Though it delayed, it
did not stop, attempts at colonization. In 1602 Bartholomew
Gosnold, with a colony of thirty-two men, sailed from England,
saw the coast of Maine, turned southward, named Cape Cod and
the Elizabeth Islands,^ and after a short stay went home. The
next year Martin Pring came with two vessels on an explor-
ing and trading voyage ; and in 1605 George Weymouth was
sent out, visited the Kennebec River in Maine, and brought
back a good report of the country.

The Virginia Charter of i6o6. — Peace had now been made
with Spain ; England had not been forced to stop her attempts
to colonize in America ; the favorable reports of Gosnold, Pring,
and Weymouth led to the belief that colonies could be success-
fully planted ; and in 1606 King James I chartered two com-
mercial companies to colonize Virginia, as the Atlantic seaboard
region was called.

To the first or London Company was granted the right to
plant a colony anywhere along the coast between 34° and 41°
of north latitude (between Cape Fear River and the Hudson).
To the second or Plymouth Company was given the right to
plant a colony anywhere between 38° and 45° (between the Po-
tomac River and the Bay of Fundy). Each company was to
have a tract of land one hundred miles square — fifty miles
along the coast each way from the first settlement and one
hundred miles inland ; and to prevent overlapping, it was pro-

1 Read Fiske's Old Virginia and her Neighbours, Vol. I, pp. 33-38.

2 The Elizabeth Islands are close to the south coast of Massachusetts. A
few miles farther south Gosnold found another small island which he named
Marthas Vineyard. Later explorers by mistake shifted the name Marthas Vine-
yard to a large island near by, and the little island which Gosnold found is now
called No Mans Land (map, p. 69).

ENGLAND ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE AMERICA

Virginia.

vided that the company last to settle should not locate within
one hundred miles of the other company's settlement.

The Colony on the
Kennebec. — The char-
ter having been
granted, each company
set about securing emi-
grants. To get them
was not difficult, for in
England at that day
there were many people
whose condition was
so desperate that they
were glad to seek a
new home beyond the
sea.i In a few months,
therefore, the Plymouth
Company sent out its
first party of colonists; but the ship was seized by the Span-
iards. The next year (1607) the company sent out one hun-
dred or more settlers in two ships. They landed in August at
the mouth of the Kennebec River, and built a fort, a church, a
storehouse, and fifteen log cabins. These men were wholly
unfit for life in a wilderness, and in December about half went
home in the ships in which they came. The others passed a
dismal winter, and when a relief ship arrived in the spring, all
went back, and the Plymouth Company's attempt to colonize
ended in failure.

The Colony on the James. — Meanwhile another band of
Englishmen (one hundred and forty-three in number) had been
sent out by the London Company to found a colony in what
is now Virginia. They set sail in December, 1606, in three

1 The industrial condition of England was changing. The end of the long
war with Spain had thrown thousands of soldiers out of employment ; the turn-
ing of plow land into sheep farms left thousands of laborers without work;
manufactures were still in too primitive a state to provide employment for all
who needed it.

THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

ships under Captain Newport, and in April, 1607, reached the
entrance of Chesapeake Bay. Sailing westward across the bay,
the ships entered a river which was named the James in honor

of the king, and on the

bank of this river the
party landed and founded
Jamestown (map, p. 44).
With this event began the
permanent occupation of
American soil by English-
men. At this time, more
tlian a hundred years after
tlie voyages of Columbus,
the only other European
settl-crs on the Atlantic
coast of the United States
were the Spaniards in
Florida.

SUMMARY

1. The Huguenots tried to
found French colonies on the
coast of South Carolina (1562)
and of Florida (1564) ; but both
attempts failed.

2. In 1565 all America, save
Brazil, either was in Spanish
hands, or was claimed by Spain.

3. During the next twenty years English sailors began to fight Span-
iards, Drake sailed around the globe, Frobisher explored the far north, and
Sir Humphrey Gilbert attempted to plant a colony in Newfoundland.

4. Gilbert's half-brother Raleigh then took up the work of colonization,
but his attempts to plant a colony at Roanoke Island ended in failure.

5. The attacks of English buccaneers on the American colonies of Spain
led to a war (1585-1604), in which the most memorable event was the
defeat of the Spanish Armada.

6. After the war two companies were chartered to plant English colo-
nies in America. The Plymouth Company's colony was a failure, but in
1607 the London Company founded Jamestown.

Ruins at Jamestown.

Church tower as it looked in 1905. The church itself
was rebuilt in 1907.

CHAPTER IV

THE ENGLISH ON THE CHESAPEAKE

NALBR1T5 In rAKTARIA.C/iipt2,

Life at Jamestown. — The colonists who landed at James-
town in 1607 were all men. While some of them were building

a fort, Captain Newport,

with Captain John Smith fe f **]!« M^.-p'l^fl-.4- bashaw.
and others, explored the
James River and visited
the Powhatan, chief of.a
neighboring tribe of Ind-
ians. This done, New-
port returned to England
(June, 1607) with his
three ships,* leaving one
hundred and five colo-
nists to begin a struggle
for life. Bad water, fever,
hard labor, the intense
heat of an American summer, and the scarcity of food caused
such sickness that by September more than half the colonists
were dead.^ Indeed, had it not been for Smith, who got corn
from the Indians and directed affairs in general, the fate of
Jamestown might have been that of Roanoke. 2 As it was, but

1 Read Fiske^s Old Virginia and her Neighbours, Vol. I, pp. 96-98.

'^ Captain John Smith was born in England in 1580. At an early age he was
a soldier in France and in the Netherlands ; then after a short stay in England
he set off to fight the Turks. In France he was robbed and left for dead, but
reached Marseilles and joined a party of pilgrims bound to the Levant. During
a violent storm the pilgrims, believing he had caused it, threw him into the sea.
But he swam to an island, and after many adventures was made a captain in
the Venetian army. The Turks captured him and sold him into slavery, but he
killed his master, escaped to a Russian fortress, made his way through Germany,

Smith in slavery.
Picture in one of his books.

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forty were alive when Newport returned in January, 1608, with
the " first supply " of one hundred and twenty men.

The Company's Orders. — Newport was ordered to bring
back a cargo. So while some of the colonists cut down cedar
and black walnut trees and made clapboards, others loaded the

ship with glittering sand which they
thought was gold dust. These la-
bors drew the men away from agri-
culture, and only four acres were
planted with corn.

In September Newport was back
again with the "second supply" of
seventy persons; two of them were
women. This time he was ordered to
crown the Powhatan, and to find a gold
mine, discover a passage to the South
Sea, or find Raleigh's lost colony.
Smith laughed at these orders. But
they had to be obeyed ; so several
parties went southward in search of
the lost colony, but found it not; Newport went westward
beyond the falls of the James in search of the passage; and
the Powhatan was duly crowned and dressed in a crimson robe.^

France, Spain, and Morocco, and reached England in time to go out with
the London Company's colony. His career in Virginia was as adventurous
as in the Old World. While exploring the Chickahominy River he and
his companions were taken by the Indians. Lest they should kill him at
once Smith showed them a pocket compass with its quivering needle always
pointing north. They could see, but could not touch it because of the glass.
Supposing him a wizard, they took him to the Powhatan. According to
Smith's account two stones were brought and Smith's head laid upon them,
while warriors, club in hand, stood near by to beat out his brains. But
suddenly the chief's little daughter, Pocahontas, rushed in and laid her head on
Smith's to shield him. He was given his life and sent back to Jamestown.
1 Smith and Newport visited the old chief at his village of Werowocomoco,
took off the Powhatan's raccoon-skin coat, and put on the crimson robe. When
they told him to kneel, he refused. Two men thereupon seized him by the
shoulders and forced him to bend his knees, and the crown was clapped on
his head. The Powhatan then took off his old moccasins and sent them, with
his raccoon-skin coat, to his royal brother in London.

Powhatan's coat.

Now in a museum at Oxford.

THE ENGLISH ON THE CHESAPEAKE 43

No gold mine could be found, so Newport sailed for England
with a cargo of pitch, tar, and clapboards.

Smith rules the Colony. — By this time Smith had become
president of the council for the government of the colony. He
decreed that those who did not work should not eat; and by
spring his men had dug a well, shingled the church, put up
twenty cabins, and cleared and planted forty acres of corn. Yet,
despite all he could do, the colony was on the verge of ruin
when in August, 1609, seven ships landed some three hundred
men, women, and children known as the " third supply." ^

Jamestown Abandoned. — And now matters went from bad
to worse. The leaders quarreled; Smith was injured and had
to go back to England; the Indians became hostile; food be-
came scarce; and when at last neither corn nor roots could be
had, the colonists began to sufifer the horrors of famine. Dur-
ing that awful winter, long known as "the starving time,"
cold, famine, and the Indians ' swept away more than four
hundred. When Newport arrived in May, 1610, only sixty
famishing creatures inhabited Jamestown. To continue the
colony seemed hopeless ; and going on board the ships (June,
1610), the colonists set sail for England and had gone well
down the James when they met Lord Delaware with three
well-provisioned ships coming up.^

Jamestown Resettled. — Lord Delaware had come out as
governor under a new charter granted to the London Company
in 1609. This is of interest because it gave to the colony an
immense domain of which we shall hear more after Virginia
became a state. This domain extended from Point Comfort,
two hundred miles up and two hundred miles down the coast,
and then " up into the land throughout from sea to sea, west
and northwest."

1 They were part of a body of some five hundred in nine ships which left
England in June. On the way over a storm scattered the fleet ; one ship was
lost, and another bearing the leaders of the expedition was wrecked on the
Bermudas. The shipwrecked colonists spent ten months building two little
vessels, in which they reached Jamestown in May, 1610.

« Read Fiske's Old Virginia and her Neighbours, Vol. I, pp. 162-166.

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After the meeting between the departing settlers and the
newcomers under Delaware, the whole band returned to James-
town and began once more the struggle for existence.

Prosperity begins. — Delaware, who soon went back to Eng-
land, left Sir Thomas Dale in command, and under him the

colony began to prosper.

Hitherto the colonists had
lived as communists. The
company owned all the land,
and whatever food was raised
was put into the public gran-
ary to be divided among the
settlers, share and share alike.
Dale changed this system,
and the old planters were
given land to cultivate for
themselves. The effect was
magical. Men who were lazy
when toiling as servants of
the company, become indus-
trious when laboring for
themselves, and prosperity
began in earnest.

More settlers soon arrived
with a number of cows, goats,
and oxen, and the little col-
ony began to expand. When

.^^ C.Hatteras

SCALE OF MILES

Virginia (from 1609 to 1624).

Dale's term as acting governor ended in 1616, Virginia con-
tained six little settlements besides Jamestown. The next
governor, Yeardley, introduced the cultivation of tobacco, which
was now much used in Europe and commanded a high price.

The First Representative Assembly. - — Yeardley was suc-
ceeded (1617) by Argall, who for two years ruled Virginia with a
rod of iron. So harsh was his rule that the company was forced to
recall him and send back Yeardley. Yeardley came with instruc-
tions to summon a general assembly, and in July, 1619, the first

THE ENGLISH ON THE CHESAPEAKE 45

legislative body in America met in the little church at James- a^^
town ; eleven boroughs were represented. Each sent two bur-
gesses, as they were called, and these twenty-two men made
the first House of Burgesses, and had power to enact laws
for the colony.^

Slavery Introduced. — Another event which makes 1619 a
memorable year in our history was the arrival at Jamestown of
a Dutch ship with a cargo of African negroes for sale; Twenty
were bought, and the institution of negro slavery was planted
in Virginia. This seemed quite proper, for there were then in
the colony many white slaves, or bond servants — men bound
to service for a term of years. The difference between one- of
these and an African negro slave was that the Avhite man served
for a short time, and the negro during his life.^

A Cargo of Maids. — Yet another event which makes 1619 a
notable year in Virginian history was the arrival of a ship with
ninety young women sent out by the company to become wives
of the settlers. The early comers to Virginia had been "ad-
venturers," that is, men seeking to better their fortunes, not in-
tending to live and die in Virginia, but hoping to return to
England in a few years rich, or at least prosperous. That the
colony w^ith such a shifting population could not prosper was
certain. Virginia needed homes. The mass of the settlers were
unmarried, and the company very wisely determined to supply

1 The governor, the council, and the House of Burgesses constituted the
General Assembly. Any act of the Assembly might be vetoed by the governor,
and no law was valid till approved by the " general court " of the company at
London. Neither was any law made by the company for the colony valid
till approved by the Assembly. After 1660 the House of Burgesses consisted of
two delegates from each county, with one from Jamestown.

2 For some years to come the slaves increased in numbers very slowly. So
late as 1671, when the population of Virginia was 40,000, there were but 2000
slaves, while the bond servants numbered 6000. Some of these indentured
servants, as they were called, were persons guilty of crime in England, who were
sent over to Virginia and sold for a term of years as a punishment. Others —
the " redemptioners " — were men who, in order to pay for their passage to Vir-
ginia, agreed to serve the owner or the captain of the ship for a certain time.
On reaching Virginia the captain could sell them to the planters for the time
specified ; at the end of the time they became freemen.

THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

The maids arrive in Virginia.

them with wives. The ninety young women sent over in 1619,
and others sent later, were free to choose their own husbands :
but each man, on marrying one of them, had to pay one hundred
and twenty pounds of tobacco for her passage to Virginia.

The Charter Taken away. — For Virginia the future now
looked bright. Her tobacco found ready sale in England at a
large profit. The right to make her own laws gave promise of
good government. The founding of home ties could not fail
to produce increased energy on the part of the settlers. But
trouble was brewing for the London Company. The king was
quarreling with a part of his people, and the company was in
the hands of his opponents. Looking upon it as a " seminary
of sedition," King James secured (1624) the destruction of the
charter, and Virginia became a royal province.^

1 That is, the unoccupied land became royal domain again, and the king
appointed the governors and controlled the colony through a committee of his
privy council. One unhappy result of the downfall of the London Company

THE ENGLISH ON THE CHESAPEAKE 47

State of the Colony in 1624. — The colony of Virginia when
deprived of its charter was a little community of some four
thousand souls, scattered in plantations on and near the James
River. Let us go back to those times and visit one of the
plantations. The home of the planter is a wooden house with
rough-hewn beams and unplaned boards, surrounded by a high
stockade. Near by are the farm buildings and the cabins of his
bond servants. His books, his furniture, his clothing and that
of his family, have all come from England. So also have the
farming implements and very likely the greater part of his
cows and pigs; On his land are fields of wheat and barley and
Indian corn ; but the chief crop is tobacco. ^

Effects of Tobacco Planting. — As time passed and the Vir-
ginians found that the tobacco always brought a good price in
England, they made it more and more the chief crop. This
powerfully affected the whole character of the colony. It
drew to Virginia a better class of settlers, who came over to
grow rich as planters. It led the people to live almost ex-
clusively on plantations, and prevented the growth of large
towns. Tobacco became the currency of the colony, and sala-
ries, wages, and debts were paid, and taxes levied, and wealth
and income estimated, in pounds of tobacco.

Few Roads in Virginia. — As there were few towns,^ so there
were few roads. The great plantations lay along the river

was the defeat of a plan for establishing schools in Virginia. As early as 1621
some funds were raised for " a public free school," in Charles City. A tract of
land was also set apart in the city of Henricus for a college, and a rector, or
president, was sent out to start it. But he was killed by the Indians in 1622,
and before the company had found a successor the charter was destroyed.
Virginia's first college— William and Mary — was established at Williamsburg
in 1693.

1 Read the description of early Virginia in J. E. Cooke's Virginia (American
Commonwealths Series), pp. 141-157; or Stories of the Old Dominion; or
Fiske's Old Virginia and her Neighbours, Vol. I, pp. 223-232.

2 Jamestown was long the chief town of Virginia ; but in its best days the
houses did not number more than 75 or 80, and the population was not more
than 250. In 1676 the church, the House of Burgesses, and the dwellings
were burned during Bacon's Rebellion (p. 95). In 1679 the Burgesses ordered
Jamestown "to be rebuilt and to be the metropolis of Virginia" ; but in 1698
the House of Burgesses was again burned, and in 1699 Williamsburg became the

THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

banks. It was easy, therefore, for a planter to go on visits of
business or pleasure in a sailboat or in a barge rowed by his

servants. The fine
rivers and the loca-
tion of the plantations
along their banks en-
abled each planter to
have his own wharf,
to which came ships
from England laden
with tables, chairs,
cutlery, tools, rich
silks, and cloth, every-
thing the planter
needed for his house,
his family, his ser-
vants, and his plan-
tation, all to be paid
for with casks of to-
bacco.

Governor Berkeley.
— Despite the change
from rule by the
company to rule by the king, Virginia grew and prospered.
When Sir William Berkeley came over as governor (in 1642),
her English population was nearly fifteen thousand and her slaves
three hundred, and many of her planters were men of much
wealth. Berkeley's first term as governor (1642-1652) covered
the period of the Civil War in England.

Civil War in England. — When King James died (in 1625)
he was succeeded by Charles I, under whom the old quarrel
between the king and the people, which had caused the down-
seat of government. The ruined church tower (p. 40) is the only ancient structure
still standing in Jamestown ; but remains of the ancient graveyard, of a mansion
built on the foundations of the old House of BurgeSSes, and some foundations of
dwellings may also be seen. The site is cared for by the Association for the
Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.

Foundations at Jamestown.

THE ENGLISH ON THE CHESAPEAKE 49

fall of the London Company, was pushed into civil war. In
1642 Charles I took the field, raised the royal standard, and
called all loyal subjects to its defense. The Parliament of
England likewise raised an army, and after varying fortunes
the king was defeated, captured, tried for high treason, found
guilty, and beheaded (1649). England then became a republic,
called the Commonwealth.

The Cavaliers. — While the Civil War was raging in Eng-
land, Virginia (largely because of the influence of Governor
Berkeley) remained loyal to the king. As the war went on
and the defeats of the royal army were followed by the capture
of the king, numbers of his friends, the Cavaliers, fled to
Virginia. After Charles I was beheaded, more than three
hundred of the nobility, gentry, and clergy of England came
over in one year. No wonder, then, that the General As-
sembly recognized the dead king's son as King Charles II, and
made it treason to doubt his right to the throne. Because of
this support of the royal cause. Parliament punished Virginia
by cutting off her trade, and ordered that steps be taken to
reduce her to submission. A fleet was accordingly dispatched,
reached Virginia early in 1652, and forced Berkeley to hand
over the government to three Parliamentary commissioners.
One of them was then elected governor, and Virginia had al-
most complete self-government till 1660, when England again
became a kingdom, under Charles II.

Maryland, the First Proprietary Colony. — When Virginia
became crown property (1624), the king could do with it what
he pleased. King Charles I accordingly cut off a piece and
gave it to George Calvert, Lord Baltimore. ^ This Lord Balti-

1 George Calvert was the son of a Yorkshire farmer, was educated at
Oxford, and went to Parliament in 1604. Becoming a favorite of King James I,
he was knighted in 1617, and two years later was made principal Secretary of
State. He became a Roman Catholic, although Catholics were then bitterly
persecuted in England. Just before the king died, he resigned office, and
received the title of Lord Baltimore, the name referring to a town in Ireland-
Finding all public offices closed to him because he was a Catholic, Baltimore
resolved to seek a home in America.

McM. BRIEF — 4

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Maryland by the original patent.

more was a Catholic who had tried in vain to found a settle-
ment in Newfoundland. He died before the patent, or deed,

was drawn for the land
cut off from Virginia, so
(1632) it was issued to
his son Cecilius, the sec-
ond Lord Baltimore. The
province lay north of the
Potomac River and was
called Maryland.

By the terms of the
grant Lord Baltimore was
to pay the king each year
two arrowheads in token
of homage, and as rent
was to give the king one
fifth of all the gold and silver mined. This done, he was pro-
prietor of Maryland. He might coin money, grant titles, make
war and peace, establish courts, appoint judges, and pardon
criminals. But he was not allowed to tax the people without
their consent. He had to summon a legislature to assist him
in making laws, but the laws when made did not need to be
sent to the king for approval.

The First Settlers. — The first settlement was made by a
company of about twenty gentlemen and three hundred arti-
sans and laborers. They were led and accompanied by two of
Lord Baltimore's brothers, and by two Catholic priests. They
came over in 1634 in two ships, the Ark and the Dove, and not
far from the mouth of the Potomac founded St. Marys. In Feb-
ruary, 1635, they held their first Assembly. To it came all
freemen, both landholders and artisans, and by them a body of
laws was framed and sent to the proprietor (Lord Baltimore)
for approval.

Self-government begun. — This was refused, and in its place
the proprietor sent over a code of laws, which the Assembly in
its turn rejected. The Assembly then went on and framed

THE ENGLISH ON THE CHESAPEAKE 51

another set of laws. Baltimore with rare good sense now
yielded the point, and gave his brother authority to assent to
the laws made by the people, but reserved the right to veto.
Thus was free self-government established in Maryland. ^

Trouble with Claiborne. — Before Lord Baltimore obtained
his grant, William Claiborne, of Virginia, had established an
Indian trading post on Kent Island in Chesapeake Bay. This
fell within the limits given to Maryland ; but Claiborne refused
to acknowledge the authority of Baltimore, whereupon a vessel
belonging to the Kent Island station was seized by the Mary-
landers for trading without a license. Claiborne then sent an
armed boat with thirty men to capture any vessel belonging to
St. Marys. This boat was itself captured, instead ; but another
fight soon occurred, in which Claiborne's forces beat the Mary-
landers. The struggle thus begun lasted for years.^

The Toleration Act. — The year 1649 is memorable for the
passage of the Maryland Toleration Act, the first of its kind in
our history. This provided that " no person or persons what-
soever within this province, professing to believe in Jesus
Christ, shall from henceforth be any ways troubled, molested,
or discountenanced for, or in respect to, his or her religion."

End of the Claiborne Trouble. — The nine years that fol-
lowed formed a stormy period for Maryland. One of the par-
liamentary commissioners to reduce Virginia to obedience
(1652, p. 49) was our old friend Claiborne. He and the new
governor of Virginia forced Baltimore's governor to resign,

1 Baltimore ordered that any colonist who came in the Arh or Dove and
brought five men with him should have 2000 acres of land, subject to an annual
rent of 400 pounds of wheat A settler who came in 1635 could have the same
amount of land if he brought ten men, but had to pay 600 pounds of wheat a
year as rent. Plantations of 1000 acres or more were manors, and the lord of
the manor could hold courts.

* Claiborne's London partners took possession of Kent Island, and acknowl-
edged the authority of Baltimore ; but after the Civil War broke out in England,
Claiborne joined forces with a half pirate named Ingle, and recovered the
island. For two years Ingle and his crew lorded it over all Maryland, stealing
com, tobacco, cattle, and household goods. Not till 1646, when Calvert received
aid from Virginia, was he able to drive out Claiborne and Ingle, and recover
the province.

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and set up a Protestant government which repealed the Tol-
eration Act and disfranchised Roman Catholics. Baltimore
bade his deposed governor resume office. A battle followed,
the Protestant forces won, and an attempt was made to destroy
the rights of Baltimore; but the English government sustained
him, the Virginians were forced to submit, and the quarrel of
more than twenty years' standing came to an end. Thenceforth
Virginia troubled Marj^land no more.

Growth of Maryland. — The population of the colony, mean-
time, grew rapidly. Pamphlets describing the colony and
telling how to emigrate and acquire land were circulated in
England. Many of the first comers wrote home and brought
out more men, and were thus enabled to take up more land.
Emigrants who came with ten or twenty settlers were given
manors or plantations. Such as came alone received farms.

Most of the work on plan-
tations was done by indented
white servants, both convicts
and redemptioners.^ Negro
slavery existed in Maryland
from the beginning, but slaves
were not numerous till after
1700.

Food was abundant, for the
rivers and bay abounded with
geese and ducks, oysters and
crabs, and the woods were full of deer, turkeys, and wild
pigeons. Wheat was not plentiful, but corn was abundant,
and from it were made pone, hominy, and hoe-cakes.

No Towns. — As everybody could get land and therefore
lived on manors, plantations, or farms, there were practically
no towns in Maryland. Even St. Marys, so late as 1678, was

1 The rederaptioners, when their time was out and they became freemen,
received a set of tools, clothes, and a year's provisions from their former mas-
ters, and fifty acres from the proprietor of the colony.

2 On such looms skilled servants wove much of the cloth used on the planta-
tion. Similar looms were used in all the colonies.

Hand loom.^

THE ENGLISH ON THE CHESAPEAKE 53

not really a town, but a string of some thirty houses straggling
for five miles along the shore. The bay with its innumerable
creeks, inlets, coves, and river mouths, afforded fine water com-
munication between the farms and plantations; and there were
no roads. As in Virginia, there was no need of shipping ports.
Vessels came direct to manor or plantation wharf, and ex-
changed English goods for tobacco or corn. Such farmers or
planters as had no water communication packed their tobacco
in a hogshead, with an axle through it, and with an ox or a horse
in a pair of shafts, or with a party of negro slaves or white ser-
vants, rolled it to market.

SUMMARY

1. The struggle of the Jamestown colony for life was a desperate one.
For two years it was preserved by Captain John Smith's skillful leadership,
and the frequent reenforcements and supplies sent over by the London Com-
pany ; but in 1610 the settlers started to leave the country.

2. The arrival of Lord Delaware saved the colony. He brought out
news of a new charter (1609) which greatly extended the domain of the
company.

3. The settlers were now given land of their own, tobacco was grown,
more settlements were planted, and prosperity began.

4. In 1619 slavery was introduced; a shipload of young women ar-
rived; and a representative government was established.

5. In 1624 Virginia became a royal colony.

6. During the Civil War in England many Cavaliers came to Virginia.

7. King Charles I cut ofE a part of Virginia to make (1632) the pro-
prietary colony of Maryland. The new province was given to Lord Balti-
more, who founded (1634) a colony at St. Marys.

8. Claiborne, a Virginian, denied the authority of Baltimore, and kept
up a struggle against him for many years.

9. In both Maryland and Virginia the people lived on large planta-
tions, and there were few towns. Travel was mostly by water, and there
were no good roads.

CHAPTER V

THE ENGLISH IN NEW ENGLAND

New England Named. — While the London Company was
planting its colony on the James River, the Plymouth Company
sought to retrieve its failure on the Kennebec (p. 39). In 1614

Smith's map of the New England coast.

Captain John Smith, who had returned to England from James-
town, was sent over with two ships to explore. He made a
map of the coast from Maine to Cape Cod,^ and called the

1 On his map Smith gave to Cape Ann, Cape Elizabeth, Charles River, and
Plymouth the names they still retain. Cape Cod he called Cape James.

THE ENGLISH IN NEW ENGLAND

country New England. The next year Smith led out a colony ;
but a French fleet took him prisoner, no settlement was made,
and five years passed before the first permanent English colony
was planted in the Plymouth Company's grant — by the
Separatists.

The Separatists. — To understand who these people were,
it must be remembered that during the reign of Queen Eliza-
beth the Protestant Episcopal Church was the Established
Church of England, and that severe laws were passed to force
all the people to attend its services. But a sect arose which
wished to " purify " the church by abolishing certain forms and
ceremonies. These people were called Puritans,^ and were
divided into two sects :

1. Those Puritans who wished to purify the Church of
England while they remained members of ib.

2. The Independents, or Separatists, who wished to sepa-
rate from that church and worship God in
their own way.

The Separatists were cruelly persecuted
during Queen Elizabeth's reign, and after-
ward. One band of them fled to Holland (in
1608), where they found peace; but time
passed and it became necessary for them to
decide whether they should stay in Holland
and become Dutch, or find a home in some
land where they might continue to remain
Englishmen. They decided to leave Hol-
land, formed a company, and finally obtained
leave from the London Company to settle
near the mouth of the Delaware River.

Voyage of the Mayflower. — Led by Brewster, Bradford,
and Standish, a party of Pilgrims sailed from Holland in July,

Brewster's chair.

Now in Pilgrim Hall,
Plymouth,

1 The Puritans were important in history for many years. Most of the
English people who quarreled and fought with King James and King Charles
were Puritans. In Maryland it was a Puritan army that for a time overthrew
Lord Baltimore's government (p. 52).

56 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

1620, in the ship Speedwell ; were joined in England by a party
from London in the Mayflower ; and in August both vessels
put to sea. But the Speedwell proved unseaworthy, and all
put back to Plymouth in England, where some gave up the
voyage. One hundred and two held fast to their purpose, and
in September set sail in the Mayflower, The voyage was long
and stormy, and November came before they sighted a sandy
coast far to the northeastward of the Delaware. For a while
they strove hard to go southward ; but adverse winds drove
them back, and they dropped anchor in Cape Cod Bay.^

The Landing. — The land here was within the territory of
the Plymouth Company. The Pilgrims, however, decided to
stay and get leave to settle, but this decision displeased some
of them. A meeting, therefore, was held in the ship's cabin
(November 21, 1620), and the " Mayflower compact," binding
all who signed it to obey such government as might be estab-
lished, was drawn up and signed by forty-one of the sixty-five
men on the vessel.

This done, the work of choosing a site for their homes began,
and for several weeks little parties explored the coast before
one of them entered a harbor and selected a spot which John
Smith had named Plymouth. 2 To this harbor the Mayflower

1 Head Fiske's Beginnings of New England, pp. 79-82.

2 The little boat or shallop in which they intended to sail along the coast
needed to be repaired, and two weeks passed before it was ready. Meantime a
party protected by steel caps and corselets went ashore to explore the country.
A few Indians were seen in the distance, but they fled as the Pilgrims ap-
proached. In the ruins of a hut were found some corn and an iron kettle that
had once belonged to a European ship. The corn they carried away in the
kettle, to use as seed in the spring. Other exploring parties, after trips in the
shallop, pushed on over hills and through valleys covered deep with snow, and
found more deserted houses, corn, and many graves ; for a pestilence had lately
swept off the Indian population. On the last exploring voyage, the waves ran
so high that the rudder was carried away and the explorers steered with an oar.
As night came on, all sail was spread in hope of reaching shore before dark, but
the mast broke and the sail went overboard. However, they floated to an island
where they landed and spent the night. On the second day after, Monday,
December 21, the explorers reached the mainland. On the beach, half in sand
and half in water, was a large bowlder, and on this famous Plymouth Rock, it
is said, the men stepped as they went ashore.

THE ENGLISH IN NEW ENGLAND

was brought, and while the men were busy putting up rude
cabins, the women and children remained on the ship.

The First Winter was a dreadful one. The Pilgrims lived in
crowded quarters, and the effects of the voyage and the sever-
ity of the winter sent half of them to their graves before spring.
But the rest never faltered, and when the Mayflower returned
to England in April, not one of the colonists went back in her.
By the end of the first sum-
mer a fort had been built
on a hill, seven houses had
been erected along a village
street leading down from the
fort to the harbor, six and
twenty acres had been cleared,
and a bountiful harvest had
been gathered. Other Pil-
grims came over, the neigh-
boring Indians kept the peace,
and the colony was soon pros-
perous.

Plymouth, or the Old Col-
ony. — As soon as the colony
was planted, steps were taken
to buy the land on which it
stood. The old Plymouth
Company (pp. 38, 39), organ-
ized in 1606, was succeeded
in 1620 by a new corporation
called the Council for New England, which received a grant of
all the land in America between 40° and 48° of north latitude.
From this Council for New England, therefore, the Pilgrims
bought as much land as they needed. The king, however, re-
fused to give them a charter, so the people of Plymouth, or the
Old Colony as it came to be called, managed their own affairs
in their own way for seventy years. At first the men assem-
bled in town meeting, made laws, and elected officers. But

Site of the fort at Plymouth.
In the old " burying ground."

THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

Grave of Miles Standish, near Plymouth.

when the growth of the colony made such meetings unwieldy,
representative government was set up, and each settlement sent

two delegates to an as-
sembly.

The Salem Colony. —
Shortly after 1G20, at-
tempts were made to
plant other colonies in
New England.! Most of
them failed, but some
of the colonists made a
settlement called Naum-
keag. Among those who
watched these attempts
with great interest was
John White, a Puritan rector in England. He believed that
the time had come for the Puritans to do what the Separatists
had done. The quarrel between the king and the Puritans
was then becoming serious, and the time seemed at hand when
men who wished to worship God according to their conscience
would have to seek a home in America. White accordingly
began to urge the planting of a Puritan colony in New Eng-
land. So well did he succeed that an association was formed,
a great tract of land was obtained from the Council for New
England, and in 1628 sixty men, led by John Endicott, settled
at Naumkeag and changed its name to Salem, which means
"peace."

The Massachusetts Bay Colony. — The members of the as-
sociation next secured from King Charles I a charter which
made them a corporation, called this corporation The Governor
and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England, and gave
it the right to govern colonies planted on its lands. More set-
tlers with a great herd of cattle were now hurried to Salem,
which thus became the largest colony in New England.

1 As to the early settlements read Fiske's Beginnings of New England^
pp. 90-95.

THE ENGLISH IN NEW ENGLAND

The Great Puritan Migration. — The same year (1629) that
the charter was obtained, twelve leading Puritans signed an
agreement to head an emigration to Massachusetts, provided the
charter and government of
the company were removed
to New England. One of the
signers was John Winthrop,
and by him in 1630 nearly a
thousand Puritans were led
to Salem. Thence they soon
removed to a little three-

The early New England colonies.

hilled peninsula where they founded the town of Boston. More
emigrants followed, and before the end of 1630 seventeen ships
with nearly fifteen hundred Puritans reached Massachusetts.
They settled at Boston, Charlestown, Roxbury, Dorchester,
Watertown, and Cambridge.

60 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

The charter was brought with them, the meetings of the
company were now held in the colony, and so many of the colo-
nists became members of the company that Massachusetts was
practically self-governing. Before long a representative govern-
ment was established in the colony, each town electing members
of a legislature called the General Court. Every town also had
its local government carried on by town meetings ; but only
church members were allowed to vote.

Maine and New Hampshire. — About two years after the
founding of Plymouth, the Council for New England granted to
John Mason and Sir Ferdinando Gorges (gor^jess) a large tract
of land between the rivers Merrimac and Kennebec. In it two
settlements (now known as Portsmouth and Dover) were
planted (1623) on the Piscat'aqua River, and some fishing sta-
tions on the coast farther north.

In 1629 the province was divided. Mason obtained a patent

(or deed) for the country between the Merrimac and the Piscata-

— qua, and named it New

.^ /fHae^ Hampshire. Gorges re-

'. W^Hv **'^l|^ ceived the country be-

i-'^fe^^SS ' -l^L^ tween the Piscataqua

^^^■jjl^ and the Kennebec,

r'' " which was called Maine.

English armor. Union with Massa-

Now in Essex Hall, Salem. chUSCttS. The tOWUS

on the Piscataqua were small fishing and fur-trading stations,
and after Mason died (1635) they were left to look out for
themselves. With two other New Hampshire towns (Exeter
and Hampton) they became almost independent republics.
They set up their own governments, made their own laws, and
owed allegiance to nobody save the king. Massachusetts, how-
ever, claimed as her north boundary an east and west line three
miles north of the source of the Merrimac River. ^ She there-

1 The Massachusetts charter granted the land from within three miles south
of the Charles River, to within three miles north of the Merrimac River, and all
lands " of and withm the breadth aforesaid " across the continent.

THE ENGLISH IN NEW ENGLAND

fore soon annexed the four New Hampshire towns, and gave
them representation in her legislature.

If the claim of Massachusetts was valid in the case of the
New Hampshire towns, it was equally so for those of Maine. But
it was not till 1652, after Gorges was dead and the settlers in
Maine (at York, Wells, and Kittery) had set up a government
of their own, that these towns were brought under her authority.
Later (1677), Massachusetts bought up the claim of the heirs of
Gorges, and came into possession of the whole province.

Rhode Island. — Among
those who came to Salem in
the early days of the ]\las-
sachusetts Bay Colony, was
a Puritan minister named
Roger Williams. 1 But he had
not been long in the colony
when he said things which
angered the rulers. He held
that all religions should be
tolerated ; that all laws re-
quiring attendance at church
should be repealed ; that the
land belonged to the Indians
and not to the king ; and that
the settlers ought to buy it
from the Indians and not
from the king. For these
and other sayings Williams
was ordered back to England.
But he fled to the woods, Roger Wniiams flees to the woods.

1 Roger Williams was a Welshman, had been educated at Cambridge Univer-
sity in England, and had some reputation as a preacher before coming to Boston.
There he was welcomed as "a godly minister," and in time was called to a
church in Salem ; but was soon forced out by the General Court. He then went
to Plymouth, where he made the friendship of Mas'sasoit, chief of the Wam-
pano'ags, and of Canon'icus, chief of the Narragansetts, and learned their lan-
guage. In 1633 he returned to Salem, and was again made pastor of a church.

62 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

lived with the Indians for a winter, and in the following
summer founded Providence (1636). ^

And now another disturber appeared in Boston in the per-
son of Anne Hutchinson,^ and in a little while she and her fol-
lowers were driven away. Some of them went to New Hamp-
shire and founded Exeter (p. 60), while others with Anne
herself went to Rhode Island in Narragansett Bay, and founded
Portsmouth and Newport.

For a time each of the little towns, Providence, Ports-
mouth, and Newport, arranged its own affairs in its own way,
but in 1643 Williams obtained from the English Parliament a
charter which united them under the name of The Incorpora-
tion of Providence Plantations on the Narragansett Bay in New
England.

Connecticut Founded. — Religious troubles did not end with
the banishment of Williams and Anne Hutchinson. Many per-
sons objected to the law forbidding any but church members
to vote or hold office. So in 1635 and 1636 numbers of
people, led by Thomas Hooker and others, went out (from
Dorchester, Watertown, and Cambridge) and founded Windsor,
Wethersfield, and Hartford in the Connecticut River valley.
Later a party (from Roxbury) settled at Springfield. For a
while these four towns were part of Massachusetts. But in
1639 Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield adopted a consti-
tution 3 and founded a republic which they called Connecticut.

1 The fate of John Endicott shows to what a result Williams's teaching was
supposed to lead. The flag of the Salem militia bore the red cross of St. George.
Endicott regarded it as a symbol of popery, and one day publicly cut out the
cross from the flag. This was thought a defiance of royal authority, and
Endicott was declared incapable of holding office for a year.

2 Anne Hutchinson held certain religious views on which she lectured to
the women of Boston, and made so many converts that she split the church.
Governor Vane favored her, but John Winthrop opposed her teachings, and
when he became governor again she and her followers were ordered to quit the
colony.

8 The first written constitution made in our country, and the first in the his-
tory of the world that was made by the people, for the people. Other towns
were added later, among them Saybrook, which had grown up about an English
fort built in 1636 at the mouth of the Connecticut.

THE ENGLISH IN NEW ENGLAND

The New Haven Colony. — As the quarrel between the
Puritans and the king was by this time very bitter, the Puri-
tans continued to come to New England in large numbers.
Some of them made settlements on Long Island Sound. A
large band under John
Davenport founded New
Haven (1638). Next (in

1639) Milford and Guilford
were started, and then (in

1640) Stamford. In 1643
the four towns joined in a
sort of union and took the
name New Haven Colony.

The United Colonies of
New England. — Thus
there were planted in New
England between 1620 and
1643 five distinct colonies,^
namely: (1) Plymouth,
or the Old Colony, (2)
Massachusetts Bay Col-
ony, (3) Rhode Island, or
Providence Plantations,
(4) Connecticut, and (5)
the New Haven Colony.

In 1643 four of them — Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecti-
cut, and New Haven — united for defense against the Indians
and the Dutch,^ and called their league " The United Colonies
of New England.'* This confederation maintained a successful
existence for forty-one years.

Effect of the Civil War in England. — When the New Eng-
land con federation was formed, the king and the Puritans in

Painted by Boughton.

Puritan dress.

1 Besides New Hampshire, which in 1643 was practically part of Massachu-
setts ; and Maine, which became so a few years later.

2 The Dutch, as we shall see in the next chapter, had planted a colony in
the Hudson valley, and disputed English possession of the Connecticut.

64 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

old England had come to blows, and civil war was raging there.
During the next twenty years no more English colonies were
planted in America. War at once stopped the stream of emi-
grants. The Puritans in England remained to fight the king,
and numbers went back from New England to join the Parlia-
mentary army. For the next fifteen years population in New
England increased slowly.

Trade and Commerce. — Life in the New England colonies
was very unlike that in Virginia. People dwelt in villages,
cultivated small farms, and were largely engaged in trade and
commerce. They bartered corn and peas, woolen cloth, and

wampum with the Indians for
beaver skins, which they sent to
England to pay for articles bought
from the mother country. They
salted cod, dried alewives and bass,
made boards and staves for hogs-
heads, and sent all these to the
West Indies to be exchanged for
stone hand mill. mgo^T, molasses, and other products

Brought from England in 1630 and used for p ,1 . • mi 1 -i, t_-

grinding flour. Now in Essex Hall, 01 the tropiCS. i XlCy DUllt SlUpS

Salem. Mass. .^ ^Yiq scaports whcrc lumbcr was

cheap, and sold them abroad. They traded with Spain and
Portugal, England, the Netherlands, and Virginia.

Scarcity of Money. — The colonists brought little money
with them, and much of what they brought went back to Eng-
land to pay for supplies. Buying and trading in New England,
therefore, had to be done largely without gold or silver.
Beaver skins and wampum, bushels of corn, produce, cattle,
and even bullets were used as money and passed at rates fixed
by law.^ In the hope of remedying the scarcity of money, the
government of Massachusetts ordered that a mint should be set

1 Students at Harvard College for many years paid their term bills with prod-
uce, meat, and live stock. In 1649 a student paid his bill with "an old cow,"
and the steward of the college made separate credits for her hide, her "suet and
inwards." On another occasion a goat was taken and valued at 30 shillings.
Taxes also were paid in corn and cattle.

THE ENGLISH IN NEW ENGLAND

up, and in 1652 Spanish

silver brought from the

West Indies was melted

and coined into Pine

Tree currency. ^

Manufactures. — That

less gold and silver might

go abroad for supplies,

home manufactures were

encouraged by gifts of

money, by exemptions of

property from taxation,

and by excusing work-
men from military duty.

The cultivation of flax

was encouraged, children Spinning wool.

were taught to spin and weave, and glass works, salt works,

and iron furnaces were started.

On the farms utensils and furniture were
generally made in the household. Almost
everything was made of wood, as spoons,
tankards, pails, firkins, hinges for cupboard
and closet doors, latches, plows, and har-
rows. Every boy learned to use his jack-
knife, and could make brooms from birch
trees, bowls and dippers and bottles from
gourds, and butter paddles from red cherry.
The women made soap and candles, carded
wool, spun, wove, bleached or dyed the
linen and woolen cloth, and made the gar-
ments for the family. They knit mittens
and stockings, made straw hats and bas-

Yam reel.2

In Essex Hall, Salem,

Mass.

1 The coins were the shilling, sixpence, threepence, and twopence. On one
side of each coin was stamped a rude representation of a pine tree.

2 On which the yarn was wound after it was spun. For a picture of the
loom used in weaving, see p. 52.

MCM. BRIEF — 5

66 THE EJNGLISH IN AMERICA

kets, and plucked the feathers from live geese for beds and
pillows.

The Houses. — On the farms the houses of the early settlers
were of logs, or were framed structures covered with shingles
or clapboards. The tables, chairs, stools, and bedsteads were
of the plainest sort, and were often made of puncheons, that is,
of small tree trunks split in half. Sometimes the table would
be a long board laid across two X supports » This was "the
board," around which the family sat at meals.^ In the better
houses in the towns the furniture was of course very much finer.

The Villages. — The center of village life was the meeting-
house, or church. Near by was the house of the minister, the'
inn or tavern, and the dwellings of the inhabitants. In early
times, if the village was on the frontier or exposed to Indian
attack it was guarded by blockhouses surrounded by a high
stockade. These " garrison houses," as they were called, were
of stone or logs, with the second story projecting over the first,
and had loopholes in place of windows. Most of them have
long since disappeared, but a few still remain, turned into
dwellings. Sometimes there were three or more blockhouses
in a village, and to these when the Indians were troublesome
the farmers and their families came each night to sleep.

Schools. — Among the acts passed by the General Court of
Massachusetts in early days were several in regard to educa-
tion. In 1636 four hundred pounds ^ was voted for a public
school. Two years later, John Harvard, a former minister,
left his library and half his fortune to this school, and in grate-
ful remembrance it was called Harvard College. Thus started,

1 On the board were a saltcellar, wooden plates or trenchers, wooden or
pewter spoons, and knives, but no china, no glass. Forks, it is said, were not
known even in England till 1608, and the first ever seen in New England were
at Governor Winthrop's table in 1632. Those who wished a drink of water
drank from a single wooden tankard passed around the table ; or they went to
the bucket and used a gourd.

2 This was a large sum in those days, and about as much as was raised by
taxation in a year. The General Court which voted the money, it has been
said, was " the first body in which the people, by their representatives, ever gave
their own money to found a place of education."

-I?*^^^.''

THE ENGLISH IN NEW ENGLAND 67

the good work went on. Parents and masters were by law
compelled to teach their children and apprentices to read Eng-
lish, know the important laws, and repeat the orthodox cate-
chism. Another law required
every town of fifty families
to maintain a school for at
least six months a year, and
every town of one hundred
householders a primary and
a grammar school, wherein
Latin should be taught.

Persecution of the Quakers.
— Though the Puritans suf-
fered persecution in the Old Fairbanks house, near Boston.
World, they had not learned As it looks to-day. Bunt partly in icso.
to be tolerant. As we have seen, no man could vote in Massa-
chusetts who was not a member of their church. They drove
out Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson, and again and
again, in later times, banished, or fined, imprisoned, and flogged
men and women who wished to worship God in their own way.
When two Quaker women arrived (1656), they were sent away
and a sharp law was made against their sect.^ But in spite of
all persecution, the Quakers kept coming. At last (in 1659-
61) three men and a woman were hanged on Boston Common
because they returned after having once been banished. Plym-
outh and Connecticut also enacted laws against the Quakers. ^

1 The Friends, or Quakers, lived pure, upright, simple lives. They protested
against all forms and ceremonies, and against all church government. They re-
fused to take any oaths, to use any titles, or to serve in war, because they
thought these things wrong. They were much persecuted in England.

^ Another incident which gives us an insight into the character of these
early times is the witchcraft delusion of 1692. Nearly everybody in those days
believed in witchcraft, and several persons in the colonies had been put to
death as witches. Wlien, therefore, in 1692, the children of a Salem minister
began to behave queerly and said that an Indian slave woman had bewitched
them, they were believed. But the delusion did not stop with the children. In a
few weeks scores of people in Salem were accusing their neighbors of all sorts of
crimes and witch orgies. Many declared that the witches stuck pins into them.
Twenty persons were put to death as witches before the craze came to an end.

68 .. THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

Connecticut Chartered (1662).— By this time the days of Pu-
ritan rule in old England were over. In 1660 King Charles II
was placed upon the throne of his father. Connecticut promptly
acknowledged him as king, and sent her governor, the younger
John Winthrop, to Londqn to obtain a charter. He easily
secured one (in 1662) which spread the authority of Connect-
icut over the New. Haven Colony,^ gave her a domain stretch-
ing across the continent to the Pacific, and established a gov-
ernment so liberal that the charter was kept in force till 1818..
New Haven Colony for a time resisted ; but one by one the
towns which formed the colony acknowledged the authority of
Connecticut.

The Second Charter of Rhode Island. — Rhode Island, like-
wise, proclaimed the king and sought a new charter. When
obtained (in 1663), it defined her boundaries, and provided for
a form of government quite as liberal as that of Connecticut.
It remained in force one hundred and seventy-nine years.

The New Colonial Era. — From 1640 to 1660 the English col-
onies in America had been left much to themselves. No new
colonies had been founded, and the old ones had managed their
own affairs in their own way. But with Charles II a new era
opens. Several new colonies were soon established ; and
though Rhode Island and Connecticut received liberal charters,
all the colonies were soon to feel the king's control. As we
shall see later, Massachusetts was deprived of her charter; but
after a few years she received a new one (1691), which united
the Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, and Maine in the one
colony of Massachusetts Bay. New Hampshire, however, was
made a separate royal province.

1 The New Haven Colony was destroyed as a distinct colony because its
people offended the king by sheltering Edward Whalley and William Goffe, two
of the regicides, or judges who sat in the tribunal that condemned Charles I.
When they fled to New England in 1660, a royal order for their arrest was sent
over after them, and a hot pursuit began. For a month they lived in a cave, at
other times in cellars in Milford, Guilford, and New Haven ; and once they hid
under a bridge while their pursuers galloped past overhead. After hiding in
these ways about New Haven for three years they went to Hadley in Massachu-
setts, where all trace of them disappears.

THE ENGLISH IN NEW ENGLAND 69

SUMMARY

1. In 1620 a body of Separatists reached Cape Cod and founded Plym-
outh, the first English settlement north of Virginia.

2. Two years later the Council for New England granted land to
Gorges and Mason, from which grew Maine and New Hampshire.

3. Between 1628 and 1630 a great Puritan migration established the
colony of Massachusetts Bay, which later absorbed Maine and New Hamp-
shire.

4. ^Religious disputes led to the expulsion of Roger Williams and Anne
Hutchinson from Massachusetts. They founded towns later united (1643)
as Providence Plantations (Rhode Island).

5. Other religious disputes led to the migration of people who settled
(1635-36) in the Connecticut valley and founded (1639) Connecticut.

6. Between 1638 and 1640 other towns were planted on Long Island
Sound, and four of them united (1643) and formed the New Haven Colony.

7. Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven joined in a
league — the United Colonies of New England (1643-84).

8. New Haven was united with Connecticut (1662), and Plymouth
with Massachusetts (1691), while New Hampshire was made a separate prov-
ince; so that after 1691 the New England colonies were New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

9. The New England colonists lived largely in villages. They were
engaged in farming, manufacturing, and commerce.

10. For twenty years, during the Civil War and the Puritan rule in Eng-
land, the colonies wfere left to themselves; but in 1660 Charles II became
king of England, and a new era began in colonial affairs.

CHAPTER VI

THE MIDDLE AND SOUTHERN COLONIES

The Coming of the Dutch. — We have now seen how English
colonies were planted, in the lands about Chesapeake Bay, and

Landing of Hudson. From an old print

in New England. Into the country lying between, there came
in 1609 an intruder in the form of a little Dutch ship called the
Half-Moon. The Dutch East India Company had fitted her
out and sent Captain Henry Hudson in her to seek a north-
easterly passage to China. Driven back by ice in his attempt
to sail north of Europe, Hudson turned westward, and came at
last to Delaware Bay. Up this the Half -Moon went a little

THE MIDDLE COLONIES

wa;^, but, grounding on
the shoals, Hudson
turned about, followed
the coast northward,
and sailed up the river
now called by his name.
He went as far as the
site of Albany; then,
finding that the Hud-
son was not a passage
through the continent,
he returned to Europe.^
Discoveries of Block
and May. — The discov-
ery of the Hudson gave
Holland or the Nether-
lands a claim to the
country it drained, and
year after year Dutch
explorers visited the re-
gion. One of them,
Adrien Block, (in 1614)

went through Long Is- New Netherland.

land Sound, ascended the Connecticut River as far as the site
of Hartford, and sailed along the coast to a point beyond Cape
Cod; Block Island now bears his name. Another, May, went
southward, passed between two capes,^ and explored Delaware

1 Henry Hudson was an English seatnan who twice before had made voyages
to the north and northeastward for an English trading company. Stopping in
England on his return from America, Hudson sent a report of his discovery to
the Dutch company and offered to go on another voyage to search for the
northwest passage. He was ordered to come to Amsterdam, but the English
authorities would not let him go. In 1610 he sailed again for the English and
entered Hudson Bay, where during some months his ship was locked in the ice.
The crew mutinied and put Hudson, his son, and seven sick meff adrift in an
open boat, and then sailed for England. There the crew were imprisoned. An
expedition was sent in search of Hudson, but no trace of him was found.

2 One of these. Cape May, now bears his name ; the other, Cape Henlopen,
is called after a town in Holland.

72 THE DUTCH IN AMERICA

Bay. The Dutch then claimed the country from the Dela-
ware to Cape Cod ; that is, as far as May and Block had
explored.

The Fur Trade. — Important as these discoveries were, they
interested the Dutch far less than the prospect of a rich fur
trade with the Indians, and in a few years Dutch traders had
four little houses on Manhattan Island, and a little fort not far
from the site of Albany. From it buyers went out among the
Mohawk Indians and returned laden with the skins of beavers
and other valuable furs ; and to the fort by and by the Indians
came to trade. So valuable was this traffic that those engaged
in it formed a company, obtained from the Dutch government
a charter, and for three years (1615-18) enjoyed a monopoly
of the fur trade from the Delaware to the Hudson.

The Dutch West India Company. — When the three years
expired the charter was not renewed ; but a new association
called the Dutch West India Company was
chartered (1621) and given great political
and commercial power over New Netherland,

fas the Dutch possessions in North America
were now called. More settlers were sent
out (in 1623), some to Fort Orange on the
site of Albany, some to Fort Nassau on
the South or Delaware River, some to the
Fresh or Connecticut River, some to Long
Island, and some to Manhattan Island, where
they founded the town of New Amsterdam.
The Patroons. — All the little Dutch set-
tlements were forts or strong buildings sur^
C1620). rounded by palisades, and were centers of

the fur trade. Very little farming was done.
In order to encourage farming, the West India Company (in
1629) offered an immense tract of land to any member of the
company who should take out a colony of fifty families. The
estate of a Patroon, as such a man was called, was to extend
sixteen miles along one bank or eight miles along both banks

THE MIDDLE COLONIES 73

of a river, and back almost any distance into the country. ^ A
number of these patroonships were established on the Hudson.

The Dutch on the Connecticut. — The first attempt (in 1623)
of the Dutch to build a fort on the Connecticut failed ; for the
company could not spare enough men to hold the valley. But
later the Dutch returned, nailed the arms of Holland to a
tree at the mouth of the river in token of ownership, and
(1638) built Fort Good Hope where Hartford now stands.
When the Indians informed the English of this, the governor of
Massachusetts bade the Dutch begone ; and when they would
not go, built a fort higher up the river at Windsor (1633), and
anotlier (1635) at Saybrook at the river's mouth, so as to cut
them off from New Amsterdam. The English colony of Con-
necticut was now established in the valley ; but twenty years
passed before Fort Good Hope was taken from the Dutch.

Dutch and Swedes on the Delaware. — The Dutch settlers
on the Delaware were driven off by Indians, but a garrison was
sent back to hold Fort Nassau. Meantime the Swedes ap-
peared on the Delaware. After the organization of the Dutch
West India Company (1623), William Usselincx of Amsterdam
went to Sweden and urged the king to charter a similar com-
pany of Swedish merchants. A company to trade with Asia,
Africa, and America was accordingly formed. Some years
later Queen Christina chartered the South Company, and in
1638 a colony was sent out by this company, the west bank of
the Delaware from its mouth to the Schuylkill (skool'kill) was
bought from the Indians, and a fort (Christina) was built on
the site of Wilmington. The Dutch governor at New Amster-
dam protested, but for a dozen years the Swedes remained un-

1 The first patroonship was Swandale, in what is now the state of Delaware ;
but the Indians were troublesome, and the estate was abandoned. The second,
granted to Michael Pauw, included Staten Island and much of what is now
Jersey City ; it was sold back to the company after a few years. The most
successful patroonship was the Van Rensselaer (ren'se-ler) estate on the Hudson
near Albany. It extended twenty-four miles along both banks of the river and
ran back into the country twenty-four miles from each bank. The family still
occupies a small part of the estate.

THE DUTCH IN AMERICA

molested, and scattered their settlements along the shores of
Delaware River and Bay, and called their country New Sweden.
Alarmed at this, Governor Peter Stuyvesant (sti've-sant) of
New Netherland built a fort to cut off the Swedes from the

sea. But a Swedish war
vessel captured the
Dutch fort ; whereupon
Stuyvesant sailed up the
Delaware with a fleet
and army, quietly took
possession of New Swe-
den, and made it once
more Dutch territory
(1655).

Dutch Rule. — The
rulers of New Nether-
land were a director gen-
eral, or governor, and five
councilmen appointed by
the West India Com-
pany. One of these
governors, Peter Minuit,
bought Manhattan (the
island now covered by a
part of New York city)
from the Indians (1620)
for 60 guilders, or about

btuyvesani: at i\ew Amsieraam.

124 of our money.'

1 New Amsterdam was then a cluster of some thirty one-story log houses
with bark roofs, and two hundred population engaged in the fur trade. The
town at first grew slowly. There were no such persecution and distress in Hol-
land as in England, and therefore little inducement for men to migrate. Minuit
was succeeded as governor by Van Twiller (1633), and he by Kieft (1638),
during whose term all monopolies of trade were abandoned. The fur trade,
heretofore limited to agents of the company, was opened to the world, and new
inducements were offered to immigrants. Any farmer who would go to New
Netherland was carried free with his family, and was given a farm, with a house,
bam, horses, cows, sheep, swine, and tools, for a small annual rent.

THE MIDDLE COLONIES

Demand for Popular Government. — As population increased,
the people began to demand a share in the government ; they
wished to elect four of the five councilmen. A long quarrel
followed, but Governor Stuyvesant at last ordered the election
of nine men to aid him when necessary. ^

Population and Customs. — Though most of the New Neth-
erlanders were Dutch, there were among them also Germans,
French Huguenots, English, Scotch, Jews, Swedes, and as
many religious sects as nationalities.

The Dutch of New Netherland were a jolly people, much
given to bowling and holidays. They kept New Year's Day,
St. Valentine's Day, Eas-
ter and Pinkster (Sunday,
Monday, and Tuesday the
seventh week after Easter),
May Day, St. Nicholas
Day (December 6), and
Christmas. On Pinkster
days the whole population,
negro slaves included,
went off to the woods on
picnics. Kirmess, a sort
of annual fair for each
town, furnished additional
holidays. The people rose
at dawn, dined at noon,
and supped at six. In no
colony were the people
better housed and fed.

The Houses stood with

Dutch door and stoop.

their gable ends to the street, and often a beam projected from
the gable, by means of which heavy articles might be raised to

1 From these nine men in time came an appeal to the Dutch government
to turn out the company and give the people a government of their own. The
first demand was refused, but the second was partly granted ; for in 1653 New
A msterdam was incorporated as a city with a popular government.

THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

the attic. The door was divided into an upper and a lower
half, and before it was a spacious stoop with seats, where the
family gathered on warm evenings.

Within the house were huge fireplaces adorned with blue
or pink tiles on which were Bible scenes or texts, a huge moon-
faced clock, a Dutch Bible, spinning wheels, cupboards full of
Delft plates and pewter dishes, rush-bottom chairs, great chests

for linen and clothes, and
four - posted bedsteads
with curtains, feather
beds, and dimity cover-
lets, and underneath a
trundle-bed for the chil-
dren. A warming pan was
used to take the chill off
the linen sheets on cold
nights. In the houses of
the humbler sort the fur-
niture was plainer, and
sand on the floors did
duty for carpets.

Trade and Commerce.
— The chief products of
the colony were furs,
lumber, wheat, and flour.
The center of the fur
trade was Fort Orange,
from which great quan-

Four-posted bed, and steps used in getting
into it.

In the Van Cortlandt Mansion, New York city.

titles of beaver and other skins purchased from the Indians
were sent to New Amsterdam ; and to this port came vessels
from the West Indies, Portugal, and England, as well as from
Holland. There was scarcely any manufacturing. The com-
mercial spirit of the Dutch overshadowed everything else, and
kept agriculture at a low stage.

The English seize New Netherland. — The English, who
claimed the continent from Maine to Florida, and from the

THE MIDDLE COLONIES 77

Atlantic to the Pacific, regarded the Dutch as intruders. Soon
after Charles II came to the throne, he granted the country
from the Delaware to the Connecticut, with Long Island and
some other territory, to his brother James, the Duke of York.

In 1664, accordingly, a fleet was sent to take possession of
New Amsterdam. Stuyvesant called out his troops and made
ready to fight. But the people were tired of the arbitrary rule
of the Dutch governors, and petitioned him to yield. , At last
he answered, " Well, let it be so, but I would rather be carried
out dead."

New York. — The Dutch flag was then lowered, and New
Netherland passed into English hands. New Amsterdam was
promptly renamed New York ; Fort Orange was called Albany ;
and the greater part of New Netherland became the province
of New York.i

Government of New York. — The governor appointed by the
Duke of York drew up a code of laws known later as the
Duke's Laws. No provision was made for a legislature, nor for
town meetings, nor for schools.^ Government of this sort did
not please the English on Long Island and elsewhere. Demands
were at once made for a share in the lawmaking. Some of the
people refused to pay taxes, and some towns to elect officers,
and sent strong protests against taxation without their con-
sent. But nearly twenty years passed before New York secured
a representative legislature.^

1 Read Fiske's Dutch and Quaker Colonies, Vol. I, pp. 286-291. In 1673,
England and Holland being at war, a Dutch fleet recaptured New York and
named it New Orange, arid held it for a few months. When peace was made
(1G74) the city was restored to the English, and Dutch rule in North America
was over forever.

2 Each town was to elect a constable and eight overseers, with limited
powers. Several towns were grouped into a "riding," over which presided a
sheriff appointed by the governor. In 1683 the ridings became counties, and in
1703 it was ordered that the people of each town should elect members of a
board of supervisors.

8 In 1683 Thomas Dongan came out as governor, with authority to call an as-
sembly to aid in making laws and levying taxes. Seventeen representatives met in
New York, enacted some laws, and framed a Charter of Franchises and Privileges.
The duke signed this as proprietor in 1684 ; but revoked it as King James II.

THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

Education. — In the schools established by the Dutch, the
master was often the preacher or the sexton of the Dutch church.
Many of the Long Island towns were founded by New Eng-
landers, who long kept up their Puritan customs and methods
of education. But outside of New York city and a few other

large towns, there were
no good schools during

the early years of the
New York colony.

New Jersey. — Before
the Duke of York had
possession of his province,
he cut off the piece be-
tween the Delaware River
and the lower Hudson
and gave it to Sir George
Carteret and Lord Berke-
ley (1664). They named
this land New Jersey,
and divided it by the
line shown on the map
into East and West Jer-
sey. Lord Berkeley sold
his part — West Jersey
— to some Quakers, and
a Quaker colony was planted at Burlington. Carteret's portion
— East Jersey — was sold after his death to William Penn ^

1 William Penn was the son of Sir William Penn, an admiral in the navy of
the Commonwealth and a friend of Charles II. At Oxford young William Penn
was known as an athlete and a scholar and a linguist, a reputation he main-
tained in after life by learning to speak Latin, French, German, Dutch, and Italian.
After becoming a Quaker, he was taken from Oxford and traveled in France, Italy,
and Ireland, where he was imprisoned for attending a Quaker meeting. The
father at first was bitterly opposed to the religious views of this son, but in the
end became reconciled, and on the death of the admiral (in 1670), William Penn
inherited a fortune. Thenceforth all his time, means, and energy were devoted
to the interests of the Quakers. For a short account of Penn, read Fiske's
Dutch and Quaker Colonies, Vol. II, pp. 114-118, 129-130.

SCALE OF MILES

New Jersey, Delaware, and eastern
Pennsylvania.

THE MIDDLE COLONIES

,it

"^r

and other Quakers, who had acquired West Jersey also. In
1702, however, the proprietors gave up their right to govern,
and the two colonies were united into the one royal province
of New Jersey.

Pennsylvania. — Penn had joined the Friends, or Quakers,
when a very young man. The part he took in the settlement
of New Jersey led him
to think of founding a
colony where not only the
Quakers, but any others
who were persecuted,
might find a refuge, and
where he might try a
'' holy experiment " in
government after his own
ideas. The king was
therefore petitioned " for
a tract of land in Amer-
ica lying north of Mary-
land," and in 1681 Penn
received a large block of
land, which was named
Pennsylvania, or Penn's
Woodland.i

Philadelphia Founded.
— Having received his
charter, Penn wrote an
account of his province and circulated it in England, Ireland,
Wales, Holland, and Germany. In the autumn of 1681 three
shiploads of colonists were sent over. Penn himself came the
next spring, and made his way to the spot chosen for the site
of Philadelphia. The land belonged to three Swedish brothers ;

1 Penn intended to call his tract New Wales, but to please the king changed
it to Sylvania, before which the king put the name Penn, in honor of Penn's
father. The king owed Penn's father £ 16,000, and considered the debt paid by
the land grant.

Charles n and Penn.

80 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

SO Penn bought it, and began the work of marking out the
streets and building houses. Before a year went by, Philadel-
phia was a town of eighty houses.

Penn and the Indians. — In dealing with the Indians the aim
of Penn was to make them friends. Before coming over he
sent letters to be read to them. After his arrival he walked
with them, sat with them to watch their young men dance,
joined in their feasts, and, it is said, planned a sort of court or
jury of six whites and six Indians to settle disputes with the
natives. In June, 1683, Penn met the Indians and made a treaty
which, unlike most other treaties, was kept by both parties.

The Government of Pennsylvania. — As proprietor of Penn-
sylvania it became the duty of Penn to provide a government for
the settlers, which he did in the Frame of Government, This
provided for a governor appointed by the proprietor, a legis-
lature of two houses elected by the people, judges partly
elected by the people, and a vote by ballot.^ In 1701 Penn
granted a new constitution which kept less power for his gov-
ernor, and gave more power and rights to the legislature and
the people. This was called the Charter of Privileges^ and it
remained in force as long as Pennsylvania was a colony.

The " Territories," or Delaware. — Pennsylvania had no front-
age on the sea, and its boundaries were disputed by the neigh-
boring colonies.2 To secure an outlet to the sea, Penn applied

1 All laws were to be proposed by the governor and the upper house ; but the
lower house might reject any of them. At the first meeting of the Assembly
Penn offered a series of laws called The Great Law. These provided that
all religions should be tolerated ; that all landholders and taxpayers might vote
and be eligible to membership in the Assembly ; that every child of twelve
should be taught some useful trade ; and that the prisons should be made houses
of industry and education.

2 Pennsylvania extended five degrees of longitude west from the Delaware.
The south boundary was to be "a circle drawn at twelve miles' distance from
Newcastle northward and westward unto the beginning of the fortieth degree
of northern latitude, and then by a straight line westward. " This was an impossi-
ble line, as a circle so drawn would meet neither the thirty-ninth nor the fortieth
parallel. Maryland, moreover, was to extend " unto that part of Delaware Bay
on the north which lieth under the fortieth degree of north latitude."

Penn held that the words of his grant "beginning of the fortieth degree "
meant the thirty-ninth parallel. The Baltimores denied this and claimed to the

THE MIDDLE COLONIES

to the Duke of York for a grant of the territory on the west
bank of the Delaware River to its mouth, and was granted what
is now Delaware. This region was
also included in Lord Baltimore's
grant of Maryland, and the dispute
over it between the two proprietors
was not settled till 1732, when the
present boundary was agreed upon.
Penn intended to add Delaware to
Pennsylvania, but the people of these
"territories," or "three lower coun-
ties," objected, and in 1703 secured a
legislature of their own, though they
remained under the governor of
Pennsylvania.

The Peopling of Pennsylvania. —
The toleration and liberality of Penn
proved so attractive to the people of
the Old World that emigrants came
over in large numbers. They came
not only from England and Wales,
but also from other parts of Europe.
In later times thousands of Germans
settled in the middle part of the col-
ony, and many Scotch-Irish (people
of Scottish descent from northern
Ireland) on the western frontier and along the Maryland border.

As a consequence of this great migration Pennsylvania be-
came one of the most populous of the colonies. It had many
flourishing towns, of which Philadelphia was the largest. This

Penn's razor, case, and hot
water tank.

Now in the possession of the Penn-
sylvania Historical Society.

fortieth. The dispute was finally settled by a compromise line which was
partly located (1763-67) by two surveyors, Mason and Dixon. In later days this
Mason and Dixon's line became the boundary between the seaboard free and
slave-holding states. The north boundary of Pennsylvania was to be "the be-
ginning of the three and fortieth degree of northern latitude," which, according
to Penn's argument in the Maryland case, meant the forty-second parallel, and
on this New York insisted.

McM. BRIEF — 6

THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

was a fine specimen of a genuine English town, and was one

of the chief cities in English America.

Between the towns lay some of the richest farming regions

in America. The Germans especially were fine farmers, raised

great crops, bred fine horses, and owned farms whose size was

the wonder of all
travelers. The labor-
ers were generally in-
dentured servants or
redemptioners.

Carolina. — When
Charles II became
king in 1660, there
were only two south-
ern colonies, Virginia
and Maryland. Be-
tween the English
settlements in Vir-
ginia and the Spanish
settlements in Flor-
Carolina by the grant of 1665. iJ^ was a wide stretch

of unoccupied land, which in 1663 he granted for a new colony
called Carolina in his honor. ^

Two groups of settlements were planted. One in the north,
called the Albemarle Colony, was of people from Virginia ; the
other, in the south, the Carteret Colony, was of people from
England, who founded Charleston (1670). John Locke, a
famous English philosopher, at the request of the proprietors
drew up a form of government,^ but it was opposed by the

1 The grant extended from the 31st to the 36th degree of north latitude, and
from the Atlantic to the South Sea ; it was given to eight noblemen, friends of the
king. In 1665 strips were added on the north and on the south, and Carolina
then extended from the parallel of 29 degrees to that of 36 degrees 30 minutes.

2 This plan, the Grand Model, as it was called, was intended to intro-
duce a queer sort of nobility or landed aristocracy into America. At the head
of the state was to be a " palatine." Below him in rank were " proprietaries,"
" landgraves," " caciques," and the "leetmen " or plain people. Read Fiske's
Old Virginia and her Neighbours^ Vol. II, pp. 271-276.

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES 83

colonists and never went into effect. Each colony, however,
had its own governor, who was sent out by the proprietors till
1729, when the proprietors surrendered their rights to the
king. The province of Carolina was then formally divided
into two colonies known as North and South Carolina.

Life in North Carolina. — The people of North Carolina lived
on small farms and owned few slaves. In the towns were a
few mechanics and storekeepers, in whose hands was all the
commerce of the colony. They bought and sold everything,
and supplied the farms and small plantations. In the northern
part of the colony tobacco was grown, in the southern part
rice and indigo ; and in all parts lumber, tar, pitch, and turpen-
tine were produced. Herds of cattle and hogs ran wild in the
woods, bearing their owner's brands, to alter which was a
crime.

There were no manufactures ; all supplies were imported
from England or the other colonies. There were few roads.
There were no towns, but little villages such as Wilmington,
Newbern, and Eden ton, the largest of which did not have a
population of five hundred souls. As in Virginia, the court-
houses were the centers of social life, and court day<s the occa-
sion of social amusements. Education was scanty and poor,
and there was no printing press in the colony for a hundred
years after its first settlement.

Much of the early population of North Carolina consisted
of indented servants, who, having served out their term in
Virginia, emigrated to Carolina, where land was easier to get.
Later came Germans from the Rhine country, Scotch-Irish from
the north of Ireland, and (after 1745) Scotchmen from the
Highlands.^

South Carolina. — In South Carolina, also, the only important
occupation was planting or farming. Rice, introduced about
1694, was the chief product, and next in importance was indigo.
The plantations, as in Virginia, were large and lay along the
coast and the banks of the rivers, from which the crops were

1 Read Fiske's Old Virginia and her Neighbours, Vol. II, pp. 310-319.

THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

floated to Charleston, where the planters generally lived. At
Charleston the crops were bought by merchants who shipped
them to the West Indies and to England, whence was brought
almost every manufactured article the people used. Slaves
were almost the only laborers, and formed about half the
population. Bond servants were nearly unknown. Charles-

Charleston in early times. From an old print.

ton, the one city, was well laid out and adorned with hand-
some churches, public buildings, and fine residences of rich
merchants and planters.

The Pirates. — During the early years of the two Carolinas
the coast was infested with pirates, or, as they called them-
selves, "Brethren of the Coast." These buccaneers had
formerly made their home in the West Indies, whence they
sallied forth to prey on the commerce of the Spanish colonies.
About the time Charleston was founded, Spain and England
wished to put them down. But when the pirates were driven
from their old haunts, they found new ones in the sounds and
harbors of Carolina, and preyed on the commerce of Charleston
till the planters turned against them and drove them off.^

Georgia Chartered. — The thirteenth and last of the English
colonies in North America was chartered in 1732. At that
time and long afterward, it was the custom in England and
the colonies to imprison people for debt, and keep them in
jail for life or until the debt was paid. The sufferings of these
people greatly interested James Oglethorpe, a gallant English

1 Read Fiske's Old Virginia and her Neighbours, Vol. II, pp. 361-369.

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES

soldier, and led him to attempt something for their relief. . His
plan was to have them released, provided they would emigrate
to America. Others aided him, and in 1732 a company was
incorporated and given the land between the Savannah and
Altamaha rivers from their mouths to their sources, and thence
across the continent to the Pacific. The new colony was called
Georgia, in honor of King George II.

The site of the new colony was chosen in order that Georgia
might occupy and hold some disputed territory,^ and serve as
a " buffer colony " to protect Charleston from attacks by the
Spaniards and the Indians.

The Settlement of Georgia.— In 1732 Ogle-
thorpe with one hundred and thirty colonists
sailed for Charleston, and after a short stay
started south and founded Savannah (1733).
The colony was not settled entirely by re-
leased English debtors. To it in time came
people from New England and the distressed
of many lands, including Italians, Germans,
and Scottish Highlanders. Oglethorpe's com-
pany controlled Georgia twenty years ; but
the colonists chafed under its rule, so that
the company finally disbanded and gave the
province back to the king (1752). ^^^ ® *^

Under the proprietors the people were required to manufac-
ture silk, plant vineyards, and produce oil. But the prosperity

1 Ever since the early voyages of discovery Spain had claimed the whole of
North America, and all of South America west of the Line of Demarcation.
But in 1670 Spain, by treaty, acknowledged the right of England to the terri-
tory she then possessed in North America. No boundaries were mentioned, so
the region between St. Augustine and the Savannah River was left to be con-
tended for in the future. England, in the charter to the proprietors of
Carolina (1665), asserted her claim to the coast as far south as 29°, But this
was absurd ; for the parallel of 29° was south of St. Augustine, where Spain
for a hundred years had maintained a strong fort and settlement. The posses-
sions of England really stopped at the Savannah River, and sixty-two years
passed after the treaty with Spain (1670) before any colony was planted south
of that river.

86 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

of Georgia began under the royal government, when the colony
settled down to the production of rice, lumber, and indigo.
Importation of slaves was forbidden by the proprietors, but
under the royal government it was allowed. The towns were
small, for almost everybody lived on a small farm or planta-
tion.

SUMMARY

1. While the English were planting the Jamestown colony, the Dutch
under Hudson explored the Hudson River (1609), and a few years later the
Dutchmen May and Block explored also Delaware Bay and the Connecticut
River.

2. The Dutch fur trade was profitable, and in 1621 the Dutch West
India Company was placed in control of New Netherland.

3. Settlements were soon attempted and patroonships created ; but the
chief industry of New Netherland was the fur trade.

4. In 1638 a Swedish colony, called New Sweden, was planted on the
Delaware; but it was seized by the Dutch (1655).

5. The English by this time had begun to settle in New England.
This led to disputes, and in 1664 New Netherland was seized by the Eng-
lish, and became a possession of the Duke of York, brother of King
Charles IT.

6. Most of the province was called New York ; but part of it was cut
off and given to two noblemen, and became the province of New Jersey.

7. In 1663 and 1665 Charles II made some of his' friends proprietors
of Carolina, a province later divided into North and South Carolina.

8. In 1681 Pennsylvania was granted to William Penn as a proprietary
colony.

9. In order to obtain the right of access to the sea, Penn secured from
the Duke of York what is now Delaware.

10. The last of the colonies was Georgia, chartered in 1732.

CHAPTER VII

HOW THE COLONIES WERE GOVERNED

Groups of Colonies. — It has long been customary to group
the colonies in two ways — according to their geographical
location, and according to their form of government.

Geographically considered, there were three groups : (1) the
Eastern Colonies, or New England — New Hampshire, Massa-
chusetts (including Plymouth and Maine), Rhode Island, and
Connecticut; (2) the Middle Colonies — New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware ; and (3) the Southern
Colonies — Maryland, Virginia, North and
South Carolina, and Georgia. (Map, p. 134.)

Politically considered, there were three
groups also — the charter, the royal, and
the proprietary. (1) The charter colonies
were those whose organization was described
in a charter ; namely, Massachusetts, Con-
necticut, and Rhode Island. (2) The royal
colonies were under the immediate authority of
the king and subject to his will and pleasure
— New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey,
Virginia, North and South Carolina, and
Georgia.^ (3) In the proprietary colonies,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, authority was vested
in a proprietor or proprietaries, who owned the land, appointed
the governors, and established the legislatures.

The First Navigation Act. — It was from the king that the
land grants, the charters, and the powers of government were

1 New Hampshire after 1679, New York after 1685 (when the Duke of York
became king), New Jersey after 1702, Virginia after 1624, North and South
Carolina after 1729 Georgia after 1762.

Colonial chair.

In the possession of the
Concord Antiquarian
Society.

88 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

obtained, and it was to him that the colonists owed allegiance.
Not till the passage of the Navigation Acts did Parliament
concern itself with the colonies.

The first of these acts, the ordinance of 1651, was intended
to cut off the trade of Holland with the colonies. It pro-
vided that none but English or colonial ships could trade be-
tween England and her colonies, or trade along the coast from
port to port, or engage in the foreign trade of the plantations.

The Second* Navigation Act was passed in 1660. It provided
(1) that no goods should be imported or exported save in
English or colonial ships, and (2) that certain goods ^ should
not be sent from the colonies anywhere except to an English
port. A third act, passed in 1663, required all European goods
destined for the colonies to be first landed in England. The
purpose of these acts was to favor English merchants.

The Lords of Trade. — That the king in person should attend
to all the trade affairs of his colonies was impossible. From a
very early time, therefore, the management of trade matters
was intrusted to a committee appointed by the king, or by
Parliament during the Civil War and the Commonwealth.
After the restoration of the monarchy (in 1660) this body was
known first as the Committee for Foreign Plantations, then as
the Lords of Trade, and finally (after 1696) as the Lords of
the Board of Trade and Plantations. It was their duty to cor-
respond with the governors, make recommendations, enforce
the Navigation Acts, examine all colonial laws and advise the
king as to which he should veto or disallow, write the king's
proclamations, listen to complaints of merchants, — in short,
attend to everything concerning the trade and government of
the colonies.

The Colonial Governor. — The most important colonial official
was the governor. In Connecticut and Rhode Island the gov-
ernor was elected by the people ; in the royal colonies and

1 These goods were products of the colonies and were named in the act —
such as tobacco, sugar, indigo, and furs. There was a long list of such '♦ enumer-
ated goods," as they were called.

HOW-^THE COLONIES WERE GOVERNED

Colonial parlor (restoration).

in Massachusetts (after 1684) he was appointed by the king,
and in the proprietary colonies by the proprietor with the
approval of the king. Each governor appointed by the king
recommended legislation to the assemblies, informed the king
as to the condition of the colony, sent home copies of the"
laws, and by his veto prevented the passage of laws injurious
to the interests of the crown. From time to time he received
instructions as to what the king wished done. He was com-
mander of the militia, and could assemble, prorogue (adjourn),
and dismiss the legislature of the colony.

The Council. — Associated with the governor in every colony
was a Council of from three to twenty-eight men ^ who acted as
a board of advisers to the governor, usually served as the upper
house of the legislature, and sometimes acted as the highest or
supreme court of the colony.

1 In the royal colonies they were appointed by the crown ; in Massachusetts,
by the General Court ; in the proprietary colonies, by the proprietor.

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The Lower House of the legislature, or the Assembly, —
called by different names in some colonies, as House of Dele-
gates, or House of Commons, — was chosen by such of the peo-
ple as could vote. With the governor and Council it made the
laws,^ levied the taxes, and appointed certain officers ; but (ex-
cept in Rhode Island and Connecticut) the laws could be vetoed
by the governor, or disallowed by the king or the proprietor.

There were many disputes between governor and Assembly,
each trying to gain more power and influence in the govern-
ment. If the governor vetoed many laws, the Assembly might
refuse to vote him any salary. If the Assembly would not
levy taxes and pass laws as requested by the governor, he might
dismiss it and call for the election of a new one.

The Laws. — Many of the laws of colonial times seem to us
cruel and severe. A large number of crimes were then punish-
able with death. For
less serious offenses men
and women had letters
branded on their fore-
heads or cheeks or hands,
or sewed on their outer
garments in plain sight ;
or were flogged through
the streets, ducked, stood
under the gallows, stood
in the pillory, or put in,
the stocks. In New England it was an offense to travel or
cook food or walk about the town on the Sabbath day, or to
buy any cloth with lace on it.

Colonial pewter dishes.

1 In Massachusetts as early as 1634 the General Court consisted of the gov-
ernor, the assistants, and two deputies from each town. During ten years
they all met in one room ; but a quarrel between the assistants and the deputies
led to their meeting as separate bodies. For an account of this curious quar-
rel see Fiske's Beginnings of New England, pp. 106-108. In Connecticut and
Rhode Island also the towns elected deputies. Outside of New England the
delegates to the lower branch of the legislature were usually elected from coun-
ties, but sometimes from important cities or towns.

HOW THE COLONIES WERE GOVERNED 91

Local Government was of three systems : the town (town-
ship) in New England ; the county in the Southern Colonies ;
and in the Middle Colonies a mixture of both.

Town Meeting. — The affairs of a New England town were
regulated at town meeting, to which from time to time the free-
men were " warned," or summoned, by the constable. To be a
freeman in Massachusetts and Connecticut a man had to own a
certain amount of property and be a member of a recognized
church. If a newcomer, he had to be formally admitted to
freemanship at a town meeting. These meetings were pre-
sided over by a moderator chosen for the occasion, and at them
taxes were levied, laws enacted, and once a year officers were
elected. 1 The principal town officers were the selectmen who
managed the town's affairs between town meetings, the con-
stables, overseers of the poor, assessors, the town clerk, and tlie
treasurer.

The County. — In the South, where plantations were numer-
ous and where there were no towns of the New England kind,
county government prevailed. The officers were appointed by
the royal governor, formed a board called the court of quarter
sessions, and levied local taxes, made local laws, and as a court
administered justice.

In the Middle Colonies there were both town and county
governments. In New York, each town (after 1703) elected a
supervisor, and county affairs were managed by a board con-
sisting of the supervisors of all the towns in the county. In
Pennsylvania the county officers were elected by the voters of
the whole county.

1 The first government of Plymouth Colony was practically a town meeting.
The first town to set up a local government in Massachusetts was Dorchester
(1633). Thus started, the system spread over all New England. Nothing was
too petty to be acted on by the town meeting. For example, "It is ordered
that all dogs, for the space of three weeks after the publishing hereof, shall have
one leg tied up. . . If a man refuse to tye up his dogs leg and he be found
scraping up fish [used for fertilizer] in the corn field, the owner shall pay 12s.,
besides whatever damage the dog doth." The proceedings of several town
meetings at Providence are given in Hart's American History told by Contem-
poraries, Vol. II, pp. 214-219.

92 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

No Representation in Parliament. — The colonies sent no
representatives to Parliament. In certain matters that body
legislated for the colonies, as in the case of the Navigation Acts.
But unless expressly stated in the act, no law of Parliament
applied to the colonies. Having no representation in Parlia-
ment, the colonies often sent special agents to London to look
after their affairs, and in later times kept agents there regularly,
one man acting for several colonies.^

A Union of the Colonies. — The idea of uniting the colo-
nies for purposes of general welfare and common defense was
proposed very early in their history. In 1697 Penn suggested
a congress of delegates from each colony. A little later Robert
Livingston of New York urged the grouping of the colonies
into three provinces, from each of which delegates should be
sent to Albany to consider measures for defense. As yet, how-
ever, the colonies were not ready for anything of this sort.

The Charters Attacked. — The king, on the other hand, had
attempted to unite some of the colonies in a very different
way — by destroying the charters of the northern colonies and
putting them under one governor. The first attack was made
by King Charles II, on Massachusetts, and after a long struggle
her charter (p. 58) was taken away by the English courts in
1684. The charters of Rhode Island and Connecticut were
next annulled, and King James IP sent over Edmund Andros
as governor of New England.

Connecticut saves her Charter. — Andros reached Boston in
1686, and assumed the government of Massachusetts and New
Hampshire. 3 He next ordered Plymouth, Rhode Island, and
Connecticut to submit and accept annexation. Plymouth and
Rhode Island did so, but Connecticut resisted. Andros there-
fore came to Hartford (1687), dissolved the colonial govern-

1 Penn's charter required him to keep an agent in or near London.

2 Charles II died in 1685 and was succeeded by his brother, the Duke of York
(proprietor of the colony of New York), who reigned as James II.

3 New Hampshire, which had been annexed by Massachusetts in 1641, was
made a separate province in 1679 ; but during the governorship of Andros it
was again annexed.

HOW THE COLONIES WERE GOVERNED 93

ment, and demanded the Connecticut charter. Tradition says
that the Assembly met him, and debated the question till dusk ;
candles were then lighted and the charter brought in and laid
on the table ; this done, the candles were suddenly blown out,
and when they were relighted, the charter could not be found ;
Captain Wadsworth of Hartford had carried it off and hidden
it in an oak tree thereafter known as the Charter Oak.

But Andros ruled Connecticut, and in the following year
New York and East and West Jersey also were placed under his
authority. Andros thus became ruler of all the provinces lying
north and east of the Delaware River. ^ His rule was tyranni-
cal : he abolished the legislatures, and with the aid of appointed
councilmen he made laws and levied taxes as he pleased.

The English Revolution of 1689. — In 1689 King James II
was driven from his throne, William and Mary became king
and queen of England, and war broke out with France. News
of these events caused an upheaval in the colonies. The people
in Boston promptly seized Andros and put him in jail ; Con-
necticut and Rhode Island resumed their charter governments ;
the Protestants in Maryland overthrew the government of the
proprietor and set up a new one in the name of William and
Mary 2; and in New York Leisler raised a rebellion.

Massachusetts Rechartered. — Massachusetts sent agents to
London to ask for the restoration of her old charter ; but in-
stead William granted a new charter in 1691, which provided
that the governor should be appointed by the king. Plymouth
and Maine were united with Massachusetts, but New Hamp-
shire was made a separate royal colony. The charters of Rhode

1 These were Massachusetts (including Maine), New Hampshire, Plymouth,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, East Jersey, and West Jersey — eight
in all. The only other colonies then in existence were Pennsylvania (including
Delaware), Maryland, Virginia, and Carolina. For an account of the attack on
the New England charters, read Fiske's Beginnings of New England, pp. 265-
268.

2 The Protestant Episcopal Church of England was established in the colony
(1692), and sharp laws were made against Catholics. From 1691 till 1715
Maryland was governed as a royal province ; but then it was given back to the
fifth Lord Baltimore, who was a Protestant.

THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

The fort at New York.

Island and Connecticut were confirmed, so that they continued
to elect their own governors.

Leisler*s Rebellion. — Andros had ruled New York through
a deputy named Nicholson, who tried to remain in control. A
rich merchant named Jacob Leisler denied the right of Nichol-
son to act, refused to pay duty on some wine he had imported,

and, aided by the people,
seized the fort and set
up a temporary govern-
ment. A convention was
then called, a committee
of safety appointed, and
Leisler was made com-
mander in chief. Later
he assumed the office
of lieutenant governor.
When King William
heard of these things, he appointed a new governor, and early
in 1691 three ships with some soldiers reached New York.
Leisler at first refused to give up the fort ; but was soon forced
to surrender, and was finally hanged for rebellion. ^

Bacon's Rebellion. — Massachusetts and New York were not
the first colonies in which bad government led to uprisings
against a royal governor. In Virginia, during the reign of
Charles II, the rule of Governor Berkeley was selfish and
tyrannical. In 1676 the planters on the frontier asked for
protection against Indian attacks, but the governor, who was
engaged in Indian trade, refused to send soldiers ; and when
Nathaniel Bacon led a force of planters against the Indians,
Berkeley declared him a rebel, raised a force of men, and
marched after him. While Berkeley was away, the people in
Jamestown rose and demanded a new Assembly and certain re-
forms. Berkeley yielded to the demands, and was also com-

iRead Fiske's Dutch and Quaker Colonies, Vol. II, pp. 199-208. In
Leisler^s Times, by Elbridge Brooks, and The Begum's Daughter, by Edwin
L. Bynner, are two interesting stories based on the events of Leisler's time.

HOW THE COLONIES WERE GOVERNED 95

pelled to give Bacon a commission to fight the Indians ; but
when Bacon was well on his way, Berkeley again proclaimed
him a rebel, and fled from Jamestown.

Bacon, supported by most of the people, now seized the
government and sent a force to capture Berkeley. The gov-
ernor and his followers defeated this force and occupied
Jamestown. Bacon, who was again on the frontier, returned,
drove Berkeley away, burned Jamestown lest it should be
again occupied, and a month later died. The popular uprising
then subsided rapidly, and when the king's forces arrived
(1677) to restore order, Berkeley was in control.^

Growth of Population. — During the century which followed
the restoration of monarchy (1660) the colonies grew not only
in number but also in population and in wealth. In 1660 there
were probably 200,000 people in the English colonies; by
1760 there were nearly 2,000,000 — all east of the Appa-
lachian watershed. The three great centers were Virginia,
Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. Sparse as the population
seems to us, the great march across the continent had begun. ^

Cities and Towns. — The century (1660-1760) had seen the
rise of but one real city in the South — Charleston. Annapolis
was a village, Baltimore a hamlet of a hundred souls, Williams-
burg and Norfolk were but towns, and no place in North Caro-

1 Berkeley put so many men to death for the part they bore in the rebellion
that King Charles said, "The old fool has put to death more people in that
naked country than I did here for the murder of my father." Berkeley was
recalled. Read Fiske's Old Virginia and her Neighbours, Vol. II, pp. 44-95 ;
or the Century Magazine for July, 1890.

2 In New Hampshire settlers had moved up the valley of the Merrimac to
Concord. In Massachusetts they had crossed the Connecticut River and were
well on toward the New York border (map, p. 59). In New York settlement
was still confined to Long Island, the valley of the Hudson, and a few German
settlements in the Mohawk valley. In Pennsylvania Germans and Scotch-Irish
had pressed into the Susquehanna valley; Reading had been founded on the
upper Schuylkill, and Bethlehem in the valley of the Lehigh (map, p. 78). In
Virginia population had gone westward up the York, the Rappahannock,
and the James rivers to the foot of the Blue Ridge; and Germans and Scotch-
Irish from Pennsylvania had entered the Great Valley (map, p. 50). In North
Carolina and South Carolina Germans, Swiss, Welsh, and Scotch-Irish were
likewise moving toward the mountains.

THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

lina was more than a country village. Philadelphia, which did
not exist in 1660, had become a place of 16,000 people in 1760,
neat, well-built, and prosperous. Near by was Germantown,
and further west Lancaster, the largest inland town in all the
colonies. Between Philadelphia and New York there were no
places larger than small villages. New York had a population
of some 12,000 souls; Boston, the chief city in the colonies,
some 20,000; and in New England were several other towns of
importance.

Life in the Cities. — In the cities and large towns from
Boston to Charleston in 1760 were many fine houses. Every

family of wealth had
costly furniture, plenty
of silver, china, glass, and
tapestry, and every com-
fort that money could
then buy. The men wore
broadcloth, lace ruffles,
silk stockings, and silver
shoe buckles, powdered
their hair, and carried
swords. The women
dressed more elaborately
in silks and brocades,
and wore towering head-
dresses and ostrich
plumes. Shopkeepers wore homespun, workingmen and me-
chanics leather aprons.

Things not in Use in i66o. — Should we make a list of what
are to us the everyday conveniences of life and strike from the
list the things not known in 1660, very few would remain. A
business man in one of our large cities, let us suppose, sets off
for his place of business on a rainy day. He puts on a pair of
rubbers, takes an umbrella, buys a morning newspaper, boards a
trolley car, and when his place of business is reached, is carried
by an elevator to his office floor, and enters a steam-heated,

Colonial sideboard, with knife cases, candlestick,
pitchers, and decanter.

In the possession of the Concord Antiquarian Society.

HOW THE COLONIES WERE GOVERNED

Colonial foot stove.

electric-lighted room. In 1660 and for many years after,
there was not in any of the colonies a pair of rubbers, an um-
brella, a trolley car, a morning news-
paper, an elevator, a steam-heated
room,i an electric light.

The man of business sits down in a
revolving chair before a roll top desk.
In front of him are steel pens, India
rubber eraser, blotting paper, rubber
bands, a telephone. He takes up a
bundle of typewritten letters, dictates answers to a stenographer,
sends a telegram to some one a thousand miles away, and before
returning home has received an answer. In 1660 there was not

in all the land a stenographer,
or any of the articles men-
tioned ; no telephone, no tele-
graph, not even a post office.
Travel and Communica-
tion. — If business calls him
from home, he travels in
comfort in a steamboat or a
railway car, and goes farther
in one hour than in 1660 he
could have gone in two days,
for at that time there was not
a steamboat, nor a railroad,
nor even a stagecoach, in
North America. Men went
from one colony to another
by sailing vessel ; overland
they traveled on horseback ; and if a wife went with her hus-
band, she rode behind him on a pillion. The produce of the
farms was drawn to the village market by ox teams.

1 Houses were warmed by means of open fireplaces. Churches were not
warmed, even in the coldest days of winter. People would bring foot stoves
with them, and men would sit with their hats, greatcoats, and mittens on.

Traveling in i66o.

McM, BRIEF

98 THE ENGLISH IM AMERICA

Newspapers and Printing. — In 1660 no newspaper or maga-
zine of any sort was published in the colonies. The first print-
ing press in English America was set up at Cambridge in 1630,
and was long the only one. The first newspaper in our country
was the Boston News Letter^ printed in 1704, and there was
none in Pennsylvania till 1719, and none south of the Potomac
till 1732.

Liberty of the Press did not exist. No book, pamphlet, or
almanac could be printed without permission. In 1685, when
a printer in Philadelphia printed something in his almanac which
displeased the Council, he was forced to blot it out. Another
Philadephia printer, Bradford, offended the Quakers by putting
into his almanac something " too light and airy for one that is a
Christian," whereupon the almanac was suppressed; and for
later offenses Bradford was thrown into jail and so harshly
treated that he left the colony.

In New York (1725) Bradford started the first newspaper in
that colony. One of his old apprentices, John Peter Zenger,
started the second (1733), and soon called down the ^wrath of
the governor because of some sharp attacks on his conduct.
Copies of the newspaper were burned before the pillory, Zenger
was put in jail, and what began as a trial for libel ended in a
great struggle for liberty of the press; Zenger's acquittal was
the cause of great public rejoicings.^

Changes between i66o and 1760. — By 1760 the conditions
of life in the colonies had changed for the better in many
respects. Stagecoaches had come in, and a line ran regularly
between New York and Philadelphia. Post ofi&ces had been
established. There were printing presses and newspapers in
most of the colonies, there were public subscription libraries in
Charleston and Philadelphia, and six colleges scattered over the
colonies from Virginia to Massachusetts.

Education. — What we know as the public school system,
however, did not yet exist. Children generally attended pri-
vate schools kept by wandering teachers who were boarded
1 Bead Fiske's Dutch and Quaker Colonies, Vol. II, pp. 248-257.

HOW THE COLONIES WERE GOVERNED

around among the farmers or village folk; and learned only to
read, write, and cipher. But a few went to the Latin school or
to college, for which they were often prepared by clergymen.

Sports and Pastimes. — Amusements in colonial days varied
somewhat with the section of the country and the character of the
people who had settled it. Corn huskings, quilting parties, and
spinning bees were common in many colonies. A house raising
or a log-rolling (a piling bee) was a great occasion for frolic.
Picnics, tea parties, and dances were common everywhere, the
men often competed in foot races, wrestling matches, and shoot-
ing at a mark. In New England the great day for such sports
was training day, which came four times a year, when young
and old gathered on the village green to see the militia com-
pany drill.

In New York there were also fishing parties and tavern par-
ties, and much skating and coasting, horse racing, bull baiting,
bowling on the greens, and in
New York city balls, concerts,
and private theatricals. In
Pennsylvania vendues (auc-
tions), fairs, and cider press-
ing (besides husking bees and
house raisings) were occa-
sions for social ^gatherings
and dances. South of the Po-
tomac horse racing, fox hunt-
ing, cock fighting, and cudgel-
ing were common sports. At
the fairs there were sack and
hogshead races, bull baiting,
barbecues, and dancing. There
was a theater at Williamsburg
and another in Charleston.

Manufactures and Commerce. — Little manufacturing was
done in 1760, save for the household. A few branches of manu-
factures— woolen goods, felt hats, steel — which seemed likely

A mill of 1691.

The power was furnished by the great undershot
water wheel.

100 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA

to flourish in the colonies were checked by acts of Parliament,
lest they should compete with industries in England. But
shipbuilding was not molested, and in New England and
Pennsylvania many ships were built and sold.

Land commerce in 1760 was still confined almost entirely
to the Indian fur trade. In sea-going commerce New England
led, her vessels trading not only with Great Britain and the
West Indies, but carrying on most of the coasting trade. In
general the Navigation Acts were obeyed ; but the Molasses
Act (1733), which levied a heavy duty on sugar or molasses
from a foreign colony, was boldly evaded. The law required
that all European goods must come by way of England ; but
this too was evaded, and smuggling of European goods was
very common. Tobacco from Virginia and North Carolina
often found its way in New England ships to forbidden ports.

SUMMARY

1. The English colonies were of three sorts — charter, royal, and pro-
prietary ; but before 1660 each managed its affairs much as it pleased.

2. Charles II and later kings tried to rule the colonies for the benefit
of the crown and of the mother country. They acted through the Lords
of Trade in England and through colonial governors in Ameriba.

3. In 1676 Bacon led an uprising in Virginia against Governor
Berkeley's arbitrary rule.

4. In 1684 Massachusetts was deprived, of her charter, and within a
few years all the New England colonies, with New York and New Jersey,
were put under the tyrannical rule of Governor Andros.

5. When James II lost his throne, Andros was deposed, and Massa-
chusetts was given a new charter (1691).

6. The government of each colony was managed by (1) a governor
elected by the people (Rhode Island, Connecticut) or appointed by the
king or by the proprietor; (2) by an appointed Council; and (3) by an
Assembly or lower house elected by the colonists.

7. Local government was of three sorts: in New England the town-
ship system prevailed ; in the Southern Colonies the county system ; and
in the JVIiddle Colonies a mixture of the two.

8. In 1660-1760 the population increased nearly tenfold ; stagecoaches,
post offices, and newspapers were introduced ; commerce increased, but little
manufacturing was done.

CHAPTER VIII
THE INDIANS

Wherever the early explorers and settlers touched our
coast, they found the country sparsely inhabited by a race of
men they called Indians. These people, like their descend-
ants now living in the West, were a race with copper-colored
skins, straight, jet-black hair, black eyes, beardless faces, and
high cheek bones.

Mounds and CHff DweUings. — Who the Indians were origi-
nally, where they came from, how they reached our continent,

Ruins of cliff dwellings.

nobody knows. Long before the Europeans came, the country
was inhabited by a people, probably the same as the Indians,
known as mound builders. Their mounds, of many sizes and
shapes and intended for many purposes, are scattered over
the Ohio and Mississippi valleys in great numbers. Some are
in the shape of animals, as the famous serpent mound in Ohio.
Some were for defense, some were village sites, and others were
for burial purposes.

In the far West and Southwest, where the rivers had cut
deep beds, were the cliff dwellers. In hollow places in the

101

102

RIVALS OF THE ENGLISH

rocky cliffs which form the walls of these rivers, in Colorado,
Aiizona, and New Mexico, are found to-day the remains of

these cliff homes. They are
high above the river and diffi-
cult to reach, and could easily
be defended. 1

Tribes and Clans. — The In-
dians were divided into hun-
dreds of tribes, each with its
own language or dialect and
generally living by itself.
Each tribe was subdivided
into clans. Members of a clan
were those who traced descent
from some imaginary ancestor,
usually an animal, as the wolf,
the fox, the bear, the eagle. ^
An Indian inherited his right
to be a wolf or a bear from his
mother. Whatever clan she
belonged to, that was his also,
and no man could marry a
woman of his own clan. The
civil head of a clan was a " sa-
chem"; the military heads
were "chiefs." The sachem
and the chiefs were elected or
deposed, and the affairs of the
clan regulated, by a council of
all the men and women. The affairs of a tribe were regulated
by a council of the sachems and chiefs of the clans. ^

1 Read Fiske's Discovery of America, Vol. I, pp. 85-94, 141-146.

2 The sign or emblem of this ancestor, called the totem, was often painted
on the clothing, or tattooed on the body. " On the northwest coast, it was carved
on a tall pole, made of a tree trunk, which was set up -before the dwelling.

3 Scientists have grouped the North American tribes into fifty or more dis-
tinct families or groups, each consisting of tribes whose languages were probably

Totem pole in Alaska.

THE INDIANS

103

Confederacies. — As a few clans were united in each tribe,
so some tribes united to form confederacies. The greatest and
most powerful of these was the league of the Iroquois, or Five
Nations, in central New York.^ It was composed of the Seneca,
Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida (o-ni'da), and Mohawk tribes.
Each managed its own tribal affairs, but a council of sachems
elected from the clans had charge of the affairs of the confed-
eracy. So great was the power of the league that it practically
ruled all the tribes from Hudson Bay to North Carolina, and
westward as far as Lake Michigan. Other confederacies of less
power were : the Dakota and Blackfeet, west of the Mississippi ;
the Powhatan, in Virginia ; and the Creek, the Chickasaw, and
the Cherokee, in the
South.

Hunting. — One of
the chief occupations
of an Indian man was
hunting. He devised
traps with great skill.
His weapons were
bows and arrows with

Indian hatchet and arrowhead, made of stone.

stone heads, stone hatchets or tomahawks, flint spears, and
knives and clubs. To use such weapons he had to get close to
the animal, and to do this disguises of animal heads and skins
were generally adopted. The Indians hunted and trapped
nearly all kinds of American animals.

Animals and Implements Unknown to the Indians. — Be-
fore the coming of the Europeans the Indians had never seen

developed from a common tongue. East of the Mississippi most of the land was
occupied by three groups : (1) Between the Tennessee River and the Gulf of
Mexico lived the Muskho'gees (or Maskoki), including the Creek, Choctaw, and
Chickasaw tribes. (2) The Iroquois (ir-o-kwoi ), Cherokee', and related tribes
occupied a lal-ge area surrounding Lakes Erie and Ontario, and smaller areas in
the southern Appalachians and south of the lower James River. (3) The
Algonquins and related tribes occupied most of the country around Lakes
Superior and Michigan, most of the Ohio valley, and the Atlantic seaboard
north of the James River, besides much of Canada.

1 Read Fiske's Discovery of America^ vol. T, pp. 72-78.

104

RIVALS OF THE ENGLISH

Indians in full dress.

horses or cows, sheep,
hogs, or poultry. The dog
was their only domesti-
cated animal, and in many
cases the so-called dog was
really a domesticated wolf.
Neither had the Indians
ever seen firearms, or gun-
powder, or swords, nails, or ^
steel knives, or metal pots
or kettles, glass, wheat,
flour, or many other arti-
cles in common use among
the whites.

Clothing.— Their cloth-
ing was of the simplest
kind, and varied, of course,
with the climate. The
men usually wore a strip of deerskin around the waist, a hunt-
ing shirt, leggings, moccasins on the feet, and some-
times a deerskin over the shoulders. Very often
they wore nothing but the strip about the waist
and the moccasins. These garments of deerskin were
cut with much care, sewed with fish-bone needles
and sinew thread, and ornamented with shells and
quills.

Painting the face and body was a universal custom.
For this purpose red and yellow ocher, colored earths,
juices of plants, and charcoal were used. What may be
called Indian jewelry consisted of necklaces of teeth
and claws of bears, claws of eagles and hawks, and
strings of sea shells, colored feathers, and wampum.
Wampum consisted of strings of beads made from sea
shells, and was highly prized and used not only for
ornament, but as Indian money.

Houses. — The dwelling of many Eastern Indians

Wampum.

THE INDIANS 105

was a wigwam, or tent-shaped lodge. It was formed of sap-
lings set upright in the ground in the form of a circle and bent
together at their tops. Branches wound and twisted among
the saplings completed the frame, which was covered with
brush, bark, and leaves. A group of such wigwams made a vil-
lage, which was often surrounded with a stockade of tree trunks
put upright in the ground and touching one another.

On the Western plains the buffalo-hunting Indian lived
during the summer in tepees, or circular lodges made of poles
tied together at the small ends and covered with buffalo
skins laced together. The upper end of the tepee was left
open to let out the smoke of a fire built inside. In winter
these plains Indians lived in earth lodges.

Food. — For food the Eastern Indians had fish from river,
lake, or sea, wild turkeys, wild pigeons, deer and bear meat,
corn, squashes, pumpkins, beans, berries, fruits, and maple
sugar (which tliey taught the whites to make). In the
West the Indians killed buffaloes, antelopes, and mountain
sheep, cut their flesh into strips, arid dried it in the sun.^

Fish and meat were cooked by
laying the fish on a framework of
sticks built over a fire, and hanging
the meat on sticks before the fire.
Corn and squashes were roasted in
the ashes. Dried corn was also ground
between stones, mixed with water,
and baked in the ashes. Such as Indian jar, of baked clay,
knew how to make clay pots could boil meat and vegetables.^

iThe manner of drying was called »* jerking." Jerked meat would keep
for months and was cooked as needed. Sometimes it was pounded between
stones and mixed with fat, and was then called pemmican.

2 Fire for cooking and warming was started by pressing a pointed stick
against a piece of wood and turning the stick around rapidly. Sometimes this
was done by twirling it between the palms of the hands, sometimes by wrapping
the string of a little bow around the stick and moving the bow back and forth
as if fiddling. The revolving stick would form a fine dust which the heat caused
by friction would set on fire.

106

RIVALS OF THE ENGLISH

Canoes. — In moving from place to place the Indians of the
East traveled on foot or used canoes. In the northern parts
where birch trees were plentiful, the canoe was of birch bark

stretched over a light
wooden frame, sewed with
strips of deerskin, and
smeared at the joints with
spruce gum to make it
watertight. In the South
tree trunks hollowed out
by fire and called dugouts
were used. In the West
there were " bull boats "
made of skins stretched
over wooden frames. For
winter travel the Northern
and Western Indians used
snowshoes.

Making a dugout.

After the Spaniards brought horses to the Southwest, herds
of wild horses roamed the southwestern plains, and in later times
gave the plains Indians a means of travel the Eastern Indians
did not haVe.

Indian Trails. — The Eastern Indians nevertheless often
made long journeys for purposes of war or trade, and had
many well-defined trails which answered as roads. Thus one
great trail led from the site of Boston by way of what is now
the city of Springfield to the site of Albany. Another in
Pennsylvania led from where Philadelphia stands to the Sus-
quehanna, then up the Juniata, over the mountains, and to the
Allegheny River. There were thousands of such trails scat-
tered over the country. As the Indians always traveled in
single file, these trails were narrow paths ; they were worn to
the depth of a foot or more, and wound in and out among the
trees and around great rocks. As they followed watercourses
and natural grades, many of them became in after times routes
used by the white man for roads and railroads.

THE INDIANS

107

Along the seaboard the Indians lived in villages and wan-
dered about but little. Hunting and war parties traveled
great distances, but each tribe had its home. On the great
plains the Indians wandered long distances with their women,
children, and belongings.

Western Indians traveling.

Work and Play.— The women did most of the work. They
built the wigwam, cut the wood, planted the corn, dressed
the skins, made the clothing, and when the band traveled, car-
ried the household goods. The brave made bows and arrows,
built the canoe, hunted, fished, and fought.

Till a child, or papoose, was able to run about, it was care-
fully wrapped in skins and tied to a framework of wicker which
could be carried on the mother's back, or hung on the branch of
a tree out of harm's way. When able to go about, the boys were
taught to shoot, fish, and make arrows and stone implements, and

108 RIVALS OF THE ENGLISH

the girls to weave or make baskets, and do all the things they
would have to do as squaws.

For amusement, the Indians ran foot races, played football ^
and lacrosse, held corn huskings, and had dances for all sorts
of occasions, some of them religious in character. Some
dances occurred once a year, as the corn dance, the thanksgiv-
ing of the Eastern tribes; the sun dance of the plains Indians;
and the fish dance by the Indians of the Columbia River
icountry at the opening of the salmon-fishing season. The
departure of a war party, the return of such a party, the end
of a successful hunt, were always occasions for dances.^

Indian Religion. — The Indians believed that every person,
every animal, every thing had a soul, or spirit, or manitou.
The ceremonies used to get the good will of certain manitous
formed the religious rites. On the plains it was the buffalo
manitou, in the East the manitou of corn, or sun, or rain, that
was most feared. Everywhere there was a mythology, or
collection of tales of heroes who did wonderful things for the
Indians. Hiawatha was such a hero, who gave them'fire, corn,
the canoe, and other things.^

Warfare. — An Indian war was generally a raid by a small

1 A game of football is thus described : " Likewise they have the exerciso
of football, in which they only forcibly encounter with the foot to carry the
ball the one from the other, and spurn it to the goal with a kind of dexterity
and swift footmanship which is the honor of it. But they never strike up one
another's heels, as we do, not accounting that praiseworthy to purchase a goal
by such an advantage."

2 One who was with Smith in Virginia has left us this account of what took
place when the Powhatan was crowned (p. 42): "In a fair plain field they
made a fire before which (we were) sitting upon a mat (when) suddenly amongst
the woods was heard ... a hideous noise and shouting. Then presently . . .
thirty young women came out of the woods . . . their bodies painted some
white, some red, some black, some particolor, but all differing. Their leader
had a fair pair of buck's horns on her head, and an otter's skin at her girdle,
and another at her arm, a quiver of arrows at her back, a bow and arrows in
her hand. The next had in her hand a sword, another a club ... all horned
alike. . . . These fiends with most hellish shouts and cries, rushing from
among the trees, cast themselves in a ring about the fire, singing and dancing.
. . . Having spent near one hour on this masquerade, as they entered in like
manner they departed." 8 Read Longfellow's Hiawatha.

THE INDIANS 109

party led by a warrior of renown. Such a chief, standing
beside the war post in his village, would publicly announce the
raid and call for volunteers. No one was forced to go ; but
those who were willing would step forward and strike the post
with their tomahawks. Among the plains Indiaas a pipe was
passed around, and all who smoked it stood pledged to go.

The weapons used in war were like those used in the hunt.
Though the Indians were brave they delighted to fight from
behind trees, to creep through the tall grass and fall upon
their enemy unawares, or to wait for him in ambush. The
dead and wounded were scalped. Captive men were generally
put to death with torture ; but captive women and children
were usually adopted into the tribe.

Indian Wars in Virginia. — The first Europeans who came
to our shores were looked on by the Indians as superior beings,
as men from the clouds. But before the settlers arrived this
veneration was dispelled, and hostility took its place. Thus
the founders of Jamestown had scarcely touched land when
they were attacked. But Smith brought about an alliance
with the Powhatan, and till after his death there was peace.

Then (1622), under the lead of Opekan'kano, an attack was
made along the whole line of settlements in Virginia, and in
one day more than three hundred whites were massacred, their
houses burned, and much property destroyed. The blow was
a terrible one ; but the colonists rallied and waged such a war
against the enemy that for more than twenty years there was
no great uprising.

Bat in 1644 Opekankano (then an old and grizzled warrior)
again led forth his tribes, and in two days killed several hun-
dred whites. Once more the settlers rallied, swept the Indian
country, captured Opekankano, and drew a boundary across
which no Indian could come without permission. If he did, he
might be shot on sight.^

1 Thirty-one years later another outbreak occurred, and for months burning
and scalping went on along the border, till the Indians were beaten by the
men under Nathaniel Bacon (p. 94).

RIVALS OF THE ENGLISH

Early Indian Wars in New England. — In New England the
experience of the early settlers was much the same. Murders
by the Pequot Indians having become unendurable, a little
fleet was sent (1636) against them. Block Island was rav-
aged, and Pequots on the mainland were killed and their corn
destroyed. Sassacus, sachem of the Pequots, thereupon sought
to join the Narragansetts with him in an attempt to drive the

Destruction of the Pequots.

English from the country ; but Roger Williams persuaded
the Narragansetts to form an alliance with the English, and the
Pequots began the war alone. In the winter (1636-37) the
Connecticut River settlements were attacked, several men
killed, and two girls carried o£P.

Destruction of the Pequots. — In May, 1637, a force of
seventy-seven colonists from Connecticut and Massachusetts,
led by John Mason and John Underbill, marched to the Pequot

THE INDIANS 111

village in what is now the southeast corner of Connecticut.
Some Mohicans and Narragansetts went along ; but when they
came in sight of the village, they refused to join in the attack.
The village was a cluster of wigwams surrounded by a stock-
ade, with two narrow openings for entrance. While some of
the English guarded them, the rest attacked the stockade,
flung torches over it, and set the wigwams on fire. Of the
four hundred or more Indians in the village, but five escaped.

King Philip's War. — For thirty-eight years the memory of
the destruction of the Pequots kept peace in New England.
Then Philip, a chief of the Wampanoags, took the warpath
(1675) and, joined by the Nipmucks and Narragansetts, sought
to drive the white men from New England. The war began in
Rhode Island, but spread into Massachusetts, where town after
town was attacked, and men, women, and children massacred.
Roused to fury by these deeds, a little band of men from Mas-
sachusetts, Plymouth, and Connecticut in the dead of winter
stormed the great swamp fortress of the Narragansetts, de-
stroyed a thousand Indians, and burned the wigwams and winter
supply of corn. The power of the Narragansetts was broken;
but the war went on, and before midsummer (1676) twenty
villages had been attacked by the Nipmucks. But they, too,
were doomed; their fighting strength was destroyed in two
victories by the colonists. In August Philip was shot in a
swamp. These victories ended the war in the south, but it
broke out almost immediately in the northeast, and raged till
the summer of 1678.

During these three years of war New England suffered ter-
ribly. Twelve towns had been utterly destroyed, f6rty had
been partly burned, and a thousand men, besides scores of
women and children, had perished. As for the New England
Indians, their power was gone forever. ^

Indian Wars in New Netherland. — The Dutch in New
Netherland were on friendly terms with the Iroquois, to whom
they sold fire-arms ; but the Tappans, Raritans, and other Algon-
1 Read Fiske's Beginnings of New England, pp. 128-133 ; 211-226, 235-236.

112 RIVALS OF THE ENGLISH

quin tribes round about New Amsterdam were enemies of the
Iroquois, and with these the Dutch had several wars. One
(1641) was brought on by Governor Kieft's attempt to tax
the Indians ; another (1643-45) by the slaughter, one night, of
more than a hundred Indians who had asked the Dutch for
shelter from their Mohawk enemies. Many Dutch farmers
were murdered, and a great Indian stronghold in Connecticut
was stormed one winter night and seven hundred Indians
killed.^ After ten years of peace the Indians rose again,
killed men in the streets of New Amsterdam, and harried Staten
Island ; and again, after an outbreak at Esopus, there were
several years of war (1658-64).

In North Carolina some Algonquin tribes conspired with
the Tuscarora tribe of Iroquois to drive the white men from
the country, and began horrid massacres (1711). Help came
from South Carolina, and the Tuscaroras were badly beaten.
But the war was renewed next year, and then another force of
white men and Indians from South Carolina stormed the Tus-
caroras' fort and broke their power. The Tuscaroras migrated
to New York and were admitted to the great Iroquois con-
federacy of the Five Nations, which thenceforth was known as
the Six Nations. 2

In South Carolina. — Among the Indians who marched to
the relief of North Carolina were men of the Yam'assee tribe.
That they should turn against the people of South Carolina
was not to be expected. But the Spaniards at St. Augustine
bought them with gifts, and, joined by Creeks, Cherokees, and
others, they began (in 1715) a war which lasted nearly a year
and cost the lives of four hundred white men. They, too,
in the end were beaten, and the Yamassees fled to Florida.

The story of these Indian wars has been told not because
they were wars, but because they were the beginnings of that
long and desperate struggle of the Indian with the white man
which continued down almost to our own time. The march of

1 Read Fiske's Dutch and Quaker Colonies, Vol. I, pp. 177-180 ; 183-188.

2 Read Fiske's Old Virginia and her Neighbours, Vol. II, pp. 298-304.

THE INDIANS 113

the white man across the continent has been contested by
the Indian at every step, and to-day there is not a state in the
Union whose soil has not at some time been reddened by the
blood of both.

What we owe to the Indian. — The contact of the two races
has greatly influenced our language, literature, and customs.
Five and twenty of our states, and hundreds of counties, cities,
mountains, rivers, lakes, and bays, bear names derived from
Indian languages. Chipmunk and coyote, moose, opossum,
raccoon, skunk, woodchuck, tarpon, are all of Indian origin.
We still use such expressions as Indian summer, Indian file,
Indian corn ; bury the hatchet, smoke the pipe of peace.
To the Indians we owe the canoe, the snowshoe, the toboggan,
lacrosse. Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to plant corn in hills,
just as it is planted to-day, and long before the white man came,
the Indians ate hominy, mush, and succotash, planted pumpkins
and squashes, and made maple sugar.

SUMMARY

1. The Indians were divided into tribes, and the tribes into clans.

2. Each tribe had its own language or dialect, and usually lived by
itself.

3. Members of a clan traced descent from some common imaginary
ancestor, usually an animal. The civil head of a clan was the sachem ; the
military heads were the chiefs.

4. As the clans were united into tribes, so the tribes were in some
places joined in confederacies.

5. The chief occupations of Indian men were hunting and waging war.

6. Their ways of life varied greatly with the locality in which they lived :
as in the wooded regions of the East or on the great plains of the West; in
the cold country of the North or in the warmer South.

7. The growth of white settlements, crowding back the Indians, led to
several notable wars in early colonial times, in all of which the Indians
were beaten : —

In Virginia : uprisings in 1622 and in 1644; border war in 1676.

In New England : Pequot War, 1636-37; King Philip's War, 1675-78.

In New Netherland : several wars with Algonquin tribes.

In North Carolina : Algonquin-Tuscarora uprising, 1711-13. .

In South Carolina: Yamassee uprising, 1715-16.

McM. BRIEF — 8

CHAPTER IX

THE FRENCH IN AMERICA

While English, Dutch, and Swedes were settling on the
Atlantic seaboard of North America, the French took pos-
session of the St. Lawrence, the Great Lakes, and the Missis-
sippi. Though the attempt of Cartier to' plant a colony on the
St. Lawrence failed (p. 30), the French never lost interest in
that part of the world, and new attempts were made to plant
colonies.

The French in Nova Scotia. — All failed till De Monts
(d'mawng) and Champlain (sham-plan')^ came over in 1604

^S;;^''""" NEWFOUNDLAND 6^

- i^^^.:"""°^''''.:>

0 ioO 2f)0 300 40(3 S5o

Canada (New France) and Acadia.

with two shiploads of colonists. Some landed on the shore of
what is now Nova Scotia and founded Port Royal. The others,

1 Samuel de Champlain (born in 1567) had been a captain in the royal navy,
and had visited the West Indies, Mexico, and the Isthmus of Panama, across
which he suggested a canal should be cut. In 1603 he was offered a command
in a company of adventurers to New France. On this voyage Champlain went
up the St. Lawrence to the site of the Indian town called Hochelaga by
Cartier (p. 30) ; but the village had disappeared. Returning to France, he joined
the party of De Monts (1604).

114

THE FRENCH IN AMERICA 115

led by De Monts, explored the Bay of Fundy, and on an island
at the mouth of a river planted a colony called St. Croix. The
name St. Croix (croy) in time was given to the river which is
now part of the eastern boundary of Maine. One winter in
that climate was enough, and in the spring (1605) the coast
from Maine to IVlassachusetts was explored in search of a better
site for the colony. None suited, and, returning to St. Croix,
De Monts moved the settlers to Port Royal.

Quebec Founded. — This too was abandoned for a time, and
in 1607 the colonists were back in France. Champlain, how-
ever, longed to be again in the New World, and soon persuaded
De Monts once more to attempt colonization. In 1608, there-
fore, Champlain with two ships sailed up the St. Lawrence and
founded Quebec. Here, as was so often the case, the first
winter was a struggle for life; when spring came, only eight
of the colonists were alive. But help soon reached them, and
France at last had secured a permanent foothold in America.
Tlie drainage basin of the St. Lawrence was called New France
(or Canada); the lands near Port Royal became another
French colony, called Acadia.

Exploration of New France. — Champlain at once made
friends with the Indians, and in 1609 went with a party of
Hurons to help fight their enemies, the Iroquois Indians who
dwelt in central New York.^ The way was up the St. Lawrence
and up a branch of that river to the lake which now bears the
name of Champlain. On its western shore the expected fight
took place, and a victory, due to the fire-arms of Champlain
and his companions, was won for the Hurons.^ Later Cham-

1 The year 1609 is important in our history. Then it was that Champlain
fought the Iroquois ; that the second Virginia charter was granted ; and that
Hudson's expedition gave the Dutch a claim to territory in the New World.

2 The fight with the Iroquois took place not far from Ticonderoga. When the
two parties approached, Champlain advanced and fired his musket. The woods
rang with the report, and a chief fell dead. "There arose," says Champlain, "a
yell like a thunderclap and the air was full of arrows." But when another and
another gun shot came from the bushes, the Iroquois broke and fled like deer.
The victory was won ; but it made the Iroquois the lasting enemies of the
French. Read Parkman's Pioneers q^France in the New Worlds pp. 310-^24,

116

RIVALS OF THE ENGLISH

plain explored the Ottawa River, saw the waters of Lake Huron,
and crossed Lake Ontario. But the real work of French
discovery and exploration in the interior was done by Catholic
priests and missionaries.

The Catholic Missionaries. — With crucifixes and portable
altars strapped on their backs, these brave men pushed boldly

into the Indian country.
Guided by the Indians,
they walked through the
dense forests, paddled in
birch-bark canoes, and
penetrated a wilderness
where no white man had
ever been. They built
little chapels of bark near
the Indian villages, and
labored hard to convert-
the red men to Chris-
tianity. It was no easy
task. Often and often
their lives were in dan-
ger. Some were drowned.
Some were burned at the
stake. Others were tom-
ahawked. But neither
cold nor hunger, nor the
dangers and hardships of
life in the wilderness,
could turn the priests from their good work. One of them
toiled for ten years among the Indians on the Niagara River
and the shores of Lake Huron ; two others reached the outlet
of Lake Superior; a fourth paddled in a canoe along its
south shore.

The King's Maidens. — For fifty years after the founding of
Quebec few settlers came to Canada. Then the French king
sent over each year a hundred or more young women who were

French priest and Indians in birch-bark canoe.

THE FRENCH IN AMERICA

117

to become wives of the settlers. ^ Besides encouraging farming,
the government tried to induce the men to engage in cod fishing
and whaling; but the only business that really flourished in
Canada was trading with the Indians for furs.

The Fur Trade. — Each year a great fair was held outside
the stockade of Montreal, to which hundreds of Indians came
from the far western lakes. They
brought canoe loads of beaver skins
and furs of small animals, and ex-
changed them for bright-colored
cloth, beads, blankets, kettles, and
knives.

This great trade was a monop-
oly. Its profits could not be en-
joyed by everybody. Numbers of
hardy young men, therefore, took to
the woods and traded with the
Indians far beyond the reach of the
king's officers. By so doing these
wood rangers (coureurs de hois)^ as
they were called, became outlaws,
and if caught, might be flogged and branded with a hot iron.
They built trading posts at many places in the West, and often
married Indian women, which went a long way to make the
Indians friends of the French. ^

The Mississippi. — When the priests and traders reached the
country about Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, they heard
from the Indians of a great river called the Mississippi — that is,
"Big Water" or "Father of Waters." Might not this, it was
asked, be the long-sought northwest passage to the Indies ?
In hopes that it was. Father Marquette (mar-kef), a priest who
had founded a mission on the Strait of Mackinac (mack'i-naw)

1 About 1000 came in eight years. When married, they received each *' an
ox, a cow, a pair of swine, a pair of fowls, two barrels of salted meat, and eleven
crowns in money." Read Parkman's Old Begime in Canada^ pp. 219-225.

2 The fur trade, which was the life blood of Canada, is finely described in
Parkman's Old Begime in Canada, pp. 302-315.

Indian and fur trader.

118

THE FRENCH IN AMERICA

119

between Lakes Huron and Michigan, and Joliet (zho-le-a'), a
trapper and soldier, were sent to find the river and follow it to
the sea.

They started in the spring of 1673 with five companions in
two canoes. Their way was from the Strait of Mackinac to
Green Bay in Wis-
consin, up the Fox
River, across a
portage to the
Wisconsin River,
and down this to
the Mississippi, on
whose waters they
floated and pad-
dled to a place
probably below
the mouth of the
Arkansas. There
the travelers
stopped, and
turned back toward Canada, convinced that the great river ^
must flow not to the Pacific, but to the Gulf of Mexico.

La Salle on the Mississippi, 1682. — The voyage of Mar-
quette and Joliet was of the greatest importance to France.
Yet the only man who seems to have been fully awake to its
importance was La Salle. If the Mississippi flowed into the
Gulf of Mexico, a new and boundless Indian trade lay open
to Frenchmen. But did it flow into the Gulf ? That was a
question La Salle proposed to settle ; but three heroic attempts
were made, and two failures, which to other men would have

1 Marquette named the river Immaculate Conception. He noted the abun-
dance of fish in its waters, the broad prairies on which grazed herds of buffalo,
and the flocks of wild turkeys in the woods. On his way home he ascended the
Illinois River, and crossed to Lake Michigan, passing over the site where Chi-
cago now stands. Read Mary Hartwell Catherwood's Heroes of the Middle
West ; also Parkman's La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West, pp. 48-71;
and Hart's American History as told by Contemporaries, Vol. I, pp. 136-140.

Marquette and Joliet at a portage.

120 HIVALS OF THE ENGLISH

been disheartening, were endured, before he passed down the
river to its mouth in 1682. ^

Louisiana. — Standing on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico,
La Salle put up a rude cross, nailed to it the arms of France,
and, in the name of the French king, Louis XIV, took formal
possession of all the region drained by the Mississippi and its
branches. He named the country Louisiana.

La Salle knew little of the extent of the region he thus
added to the possessions of France in the New World. But
the claim was valid, and Louisiana stretched from the unknown
sources of the Ohio River and the Appalachian Mountains on
the east, to the unknown Rocky Mountains on th6 west, and
from the watershed of the Great Lakes on the north, to the
Gulf of Mexico on the south.

La Salle attempts to occupy Louisiana, 1682 — But the
great work La Salle had planned was yet to be done. Louisiana
had to be occupied.

A fort was needed far up the valley of the Mississippi to
overawe the Indians and secure the fur trade. Hurrying back

1 In the first attempt he left Fort Frontenac, coasted along the north shore
of Lake Ontario, crossed over and went up the Niagara River, and around the
Falls to Lake Erie, There he built a vessel called the Griffin, which was sailed
through the lakes to the northern part of Lake Michigan (1679). Thence he
went in canoes along the shore of Lake Michigan to the river St. Joseph, where
he built a fort (Fort St. Joseph), and then pushed on to the Illinois River and
(near the present city of Peoria) built another called Fort Cr6vecoeur (crav'ker).
There he left Henri de Tonty in charge of a party to build another ship, and
went back to Canada.

When he returned to the Illinois in 1680, on his second trip, Cr^vecoeur was
in ruins, and Tonty and his men gone. In hope of finding them La Salle went
down the Illinois to the Mississippi, but he turned back and passed the winter
on the river St. Joseph. (Read Parkman's description of the great town of
the Illinois and its capture by the Iroquois, in La Salle and the Discovery of
the Great West, pp. 205-215.)

From the St. Joseph, after another trip to Canada, La Salle (with Tonty)
started westward for the third time (late in 1681), crossed the lake to where
Chicago now is, went down the Illinois and the Mississippi, and in April, 1682,
floated out on the waters of the Gulf.

On his first expedition La Salle was accompanied by Father Hennepin,
whom he sent down the Illinois and up the Mississippi. But the Sioux (soo)
Indians captured Father Hennepin, and took him up the Mississippi to the falls
which he named St. Anthony, now in the city of Minneapolis.

THE FRENCH IN AMERICA 121

to the Illinois River, La Salle, in December, 1682, on the top of
a steep cliff, built a stockade and named it Fort St. Louis.

A fort and city also needed to be built at the mouth of the
Mississippi to keep out the Spaniards and afford a place whence
furs floated down the river might be shipped to France This
required the aid of the king. Hurrying to Paris, La Salle
persuaded Louis XIV to help him, and was sent back with four
ships to found the city.

La Salle in Texas, 1684. — But the little fleet missed the
mouth of the river and reached the coast of Texas. There the
men landed and built Fort St. .-

Louis of Texas. Well know-
ing that he had passed the
river, La Salle left some men
at the fort, and with the rest
started on foot to find the Mis-
sissippi— but never reached
it. He was murdered on the
way by his own men.

Of the men left in Texas . c^ f

the Indians killed some, and La Salle's house (Canada) in 1900.
the Spaniards killed or cap-
tured the rest, and the plans of this great explorer failed utterly. ^

Biloxi. — La Salle's scheme of founding a city near the mouth
of the Mississippi, however, was carried out by other men.
Fear that the English would seize the mouth of the river led
the French to act, and in 1699 a gallant soldier named Iber-
ville (e-ber-veel') built a small stockade and planted a colony
at Bilox'i on the coast of what is now Mississippi.

New Orleans Founded. — During fifteen years and more the
little colony, which was soon moved from Biloxi to the vicinity
of Mobile (map, p. 134), struggled on as best it could; then
steps were taken to plant a settlement on the banks of the
Mississippi, and (1718) Bienville (be-an-veel') laid the foun-
dation of a city he called New Orleans.

1 Read Parkman's La Salle, pp. 275-288, 350-355, 396-405.

122 RIVALS OF THE ENGLISH

SUMMARY

1. After many failures, a French colony was planted at Port Royal in
Acadia (Nova Scotia) in 1604; but this was abandoned for a time, and the
first permanent French colony was planted by Champlain at Quebec in
1608.

2. From these settlements grew up the two French colonies called
Acadia and New France or Canada.

3. New France was explored by Champlain, and by many brave priests.

4. Marquette and Joliet reached the Mississippi and explored it from
the Wisconsin to- the Arkansas (1673).

5. Their unfinished work was taken up by La Salle, who went down
the Mississippi to the Gulf (1682), and formally claimed for France all the
region drained by the river and its tributaries — a vast area which he
called Louisiana.

6. Occupation of the Mississippi valley by the French followed ; forts
and trading posts were built, and in 1718 New Orleans was founded.

CHAPTER X

WARS WITH THE FRENCH

King William's War. — When James II was driven from
his throne (p. 93), he fled to France. His quarrel with King
William was taken up by Louis XIV, and in 1689 war began
between France and England. The strife thus started in the
Old World soon spread to the New, and during eight years the
frontier of New England and New York was the scene of
French and Indian raids, massacres, and burning towns.

The Frontier. — The frontier of English settlement con-
sisted of a string of little iyowns close to the coast in Maine

=5? ;" ('.:'-■---, ) ^C.Cod ^ y* scaleofmiles

100

130

Scene of the early wars with the French.

and New Hampshire, and some sixty miles back from the coast
in Massachusetts ; of a second string of towns up the Con-

123

124 RIVALS OF THE ENGLISH

necticut valley to central Massachusetts ; and of a third up the
Hudson to the Mohawk and up the Mohawk to Schenec'tady.
Most of Maine and New Hampshire, all of what is now Vermont,
and all New York north and west of the Mohawk was a wilder-
ness pierced by streams which afforded the French and Indians
easy ways of reaching the English frontier.

The French frontier consisted of a few fishing towns
scattered along the shores of Acadia (what is now Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick, and eastern Maine), and a few settlements
along the St. Lawrence to Fort Frontenac, just where the river
leaves Lake Ontario.

Between these frontiers in Maine and New Hampshire were
the Abenaki (ab-nahk'ee) Indians, close allies of the French
and bitter enemies of the English ; and in New York the Iro-
quois, allies of the English and enemies of the French since
the day in 1609 when Champlain defeated them (p. 115). ^

The French attack the English Frontier. — The governor of
New France was Count Frontenac, a man of action, keen, fiery,
and daring, a splendid executive, an able commander, and well
called the Father of New France. Gathering his Frenchmen
and Indians as quickly as possible, Frontenac formed three war
parties on the St. Lawrence in the winter of 1689-90 : that at
Montreal was to march against Albany ; that at Three Rivers
was to ravage the frontier of New Hampshire, and that at
Quebec the frontier of Maine. The Montreal party was ready
first, and made its way on snowshoes to the little palisaded
village of Schenectady, passed through the open gates ^ in a
blinding storm of snow, and in the darkness of night massacred

1 It was only a few years after this defeat that the Dutch planted their
trading posts on the upper Hudson. They made friends of the Iroquois, and
when the English succeeded the Dutch, they followed the same wise policy,
encouraged the old hatred of the Indians for the French, and inspired more
than one of their raids into Canada. The Iroquois thus became a barrier against
the French and prevented them from coming down the Hudson and so cutting
ofE New England from the Middle Colonies.

2 The inhabitants, mostly Dutch, had been advised to be on their guard,
but they laughed at the advice, kept their gates open, and, it is said, at one of
them put two snow men as mock sentinels.

WARS WITH THE FRENCH

125

The attack at Schenectady.

threescore men, women, and children, took captive as many
more, and left the place in ashes.

The second war party of French and Indians left the St.
Lawrence in January, 1690, spent three months struggling
through the wilderness, and in March fell upon the village of
Salmon Falls, laid it in ashes, ravaged the farms near by, mas-
sacred some thirty men, women, and children, and carried off
some fifty prisoners. This deed done, the party hurried east-
ward and fell in with the third party, ' from Quebec. The
two then attacked and captured Fort Loyal (where Portland
now stands), and massacred or captured most of the inhabit-
ants.

End of King William's War. — Smarting under the attacks
of the French and Lidians, New England struck back. Its
fleet, with a few hundred militia under William Phips, cap-
tured and pillaged Port Royal, and for a time held Acadia. A
little army of troops from Connecticut and New York marched
against Montreal, and a fleet and army under Phips sailed for
Quebec. But the one went no farther than Lake Champlain,

126 RIVALS OF THE ENGLISH

and Phips, after failing in an attack on Quebec, returned to
Boston. 1

For seven years more the French and Indians ravaged the
frontier 2 before the treaty of Ryswick (riz'wick) put an end to
the war in 1697.

Queen Anne's War. — In the short interval of peace which
followed, the French made a settlement at Biloxi, as we have
seen, and founded Detroit (1701). In Europe the French king
(Louis XIV) placed his grandson on the throne of Spain and,
on the death of James II, recognized James's young son as King
James III of England. For this, war was declared by Eng-
land in 1701. The struggle which followed was known abroad
as the War of the Spanish Succession, but in our country as
Queen Anne's War.^

Again the frontier from Maine to Massachusetts was the
scene of Indian raids and massacres. Haverhill was laid waste
a second time,* and Deerfield in the Connecticut valley was
burned.

The Attack on Deerfield was a typical Indian raid. The
village, consisting of forty-one houses strung along a road,
stood on the extreme northwestern frontier of Massachusetts.
In the center of the place was a square wooden meetinghouse
which, with some of the houses, was surrounded by a stockade
eight feet high flanked on two corners by blockhouses.^ Late

1 It was expected that the plunder of Quebec would pay the cost of the
expedition. Failure added to the debt of Massachusetts, and forced the colony
to issue paper money or "bills of credit." This was the first time such money
was issued by any of the colonies. (For picture of a bill of credit, see p. 204.)

2 They captured, plundered, and burned York, were beaten in an attack on
Wells, burned houses and tomahawked a hundred people at Durham, and burned
the farmhouses near Haverhill.

8 Queen Mary died in 1694, and King William in 1702. The crown then
passed to Anne, sister of Mary. The war, therefore, was fought mostly during
her reign.

* Read Whittier's poem Pentucket, and his account in prose called TTie Bor-
der War of 1708.

6 Formidable as was the fort, the snow of a severe winter had been suffered
to pile in drifts against the stockade till in places it nearly reached the top, so
that the stockade was no longer an obstacle to the French and Indians.

WARS WITH THE FRENCH 127

in February, 1704, a band of French and Indians from Canada
reached the town, hid in the woods two miles away, and just
before dawn moved quietly across the frozen snow, rushed
into the village, and, raising the warwhoop, beat in the house
doors with ax and hatchet. A few of the wretched inmates
escaped half-clad to the next village, but nine and forty men,
women, and children were massacred, and one hundred more
were led awaj captives.^

End of Queen Anne's War. — As the war went on, the English
colonists twice attacked Port Royal in vain, but on the third
attack in 1710 the place was captured. This time the English
took permanent possession and renamed it Annapolis in honor
of the queen. To Acedia was given the name Nova Scotia. En-
couraged by the success at Port Royal, the greatest fleet ever
seen, up to that time, in American waters was sent against
Quebec, and an army of twenty-three hundred men marched
by way of Lake Champlain to attack Montreal.

But the fleet, having lost nine ships and a thousand men
in the fog at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, returned to Bos-
ton, and the commander of the army, hearing of this, marched
back to Albany. When peace was made by the treaty of
Utrecht (li'trekt) in 1713, France was forced to give up to Great
Britain ^ Acadia, Newfoundland, and all claim to the territory
drained by the rivers that flow into Hudson Bay (map, p. 134^.

The French build Forts in Louisiana. — Thirty-one years now
passed before France and Great Britain were again at war, and
in this period France took armed possession of the Mississippi
valley, constructed a chain' of forts from New Orleans to the
Ohio, and built Forts Niagara and Crown Point.

This meant that the French were determined to keep the
British out of Louisiana and New France and confine them to
the seacoast. But the French were also determined to regain

iRead Parkman's Half-Century of Conflict, Vol. I, pp. 52-66.

2 Ever since the accession of King James I (1603) England and Scotland
had been under the same king, but otherwise had been independent, each having
its own Parliament. Now, in Queen Anne's reign, the two countries were united
(1707) and made the one country of Great Britain, with one Parliament.

128

RIVALS OF THE ENGLISH

Acadia, and on the island of Cape Breton they built Louis-
burg, the strongest fortress in America. ^

King George's War. — Such was the state of affairs when in
1744 Great Britain and France again went to war. As George

li was then king of
Great Britain, the colo-
nists called the strife
King George's War.
The French now rushed
down on Nova Scotia
and attacked Annapolis.
It seemed as if the whole
of Nova Scotia would be
Plan of Louisburg, 1745. conquered ; but instead

the people of New England sent out a fleet and army and cap-
tured Louisburg. 2

When peace was made (1748), after two years more of
fighting. Great Britain gave Louisburg back to France.

The French in the Ohio Valley. — The war ended and no
territory lost, the French at once laid plans to shut the British
out of the Ohio valley, which France claimed because the Ohio
River and its tributaries flowed into the Mississippi. In 1749,

1 It was during these years of peace that Georgia was planted. The Span-
iards at St. Augustine considered this an intrusion into their territory, and pro-
tested vigorously when Oglethorpe established a line of military posts from the
Altamaha to the St. Johns River. When word came that Great Britain and Spain
were at war, Oglethorpe, aided by British ships, (1740) attacked St. Augustine.
He failed to capture the city, and the Spaniards (1742) invaded Georgia. Ogle-
thorpe, though greatly outnumbered, made a gallant defense, forced the Span-
iards to withdraw, and (1743) a second time attacked St. Augustine, but failed to
take it.

2 The expedition was undertaken without authority from the king. The
army was a body of raw recruits from the farms, the shops, lumber camps,
and fishing villages. The commander — Pepperell — was chosen because of his
popularity, and knew no more about attacking a fortress than the humblest man
in the ranks. Of cannon suitable to reduce a fortress the army had none.
Nevertheless, by dint of hard work and good luck, and largely by means of
many cannon captured from the French, the garrison was forced to surrender.
Read Hawthorne's Grandfather's Chair, Part ii, Chap, vii ; also Chaps, viii
and ix.

WARS WITH THE FRENCH 129

therefore, a party of Frenchmen under Celeron (sa-lo-rawng')
were sent to take formal possession of that region.^

The Buried Plates Paddling up the St. Lawrence and

Lake Ontario, these men carried their canoes around Niagara
Falls, coasted along Lake Erie to a place near Chautauqua Lake,
and going overland to the lake went down its outlet to the
Allegheny River. There the men were drawn up, the French

\jiic ui Liir ir.ui piaU-> UUilCU uy Cciululi.

In the possession of the Virginia Historical Society.

king was proclaimed owner of all the region drained by the
Ohio, and a lead plate was buried at the foot of a tree. The
inscription on the plate declared that the Ohio and all the streams
that entered it and the land on both sides of them belonged
to France.

The party then passed down the Allegheny to the Ohio, and
down the Ohio to the Miami, burying plates from time to time.^

1 Read Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe^ Vol. I, pp. 20-34, for a comparison
of the French and English colonies in America.

2 One of these plates was soon found by the Indians and sent to the governor
of Pennsylvania. Two more in recent years were found projecting from the
banks of the Ohio by boys while bathing or at play.

130

RIVALS OF THE ENGLISH

The French Forts. — Formal possession having been taken,
the next step of the French was to build a log fort at Presque
Isle (on Lake. Erie where the city of Erie now is), and also
Forts Le Boeuf and Venango, on a branch of the Allegheny.

The Ohio Company. — But the English colonists likewise
claimed the Mississippi valley, by virtue of the old " sea to sea "

grants, and the same year that
Celoron came down the Alle-
gheny, they also prepared to
take possession of the Ohio
valley in a much more serious
way. The French were bury-
ing plates and about to build
forts; the English were about
to plant towns and make settle-
ments.

Already in Pennsylvania
and Virginia population was
pushing rapidly westward. Al-
ready English traders crossed
the mountains and with their
goods packed on horses fol-
lowed the trails down the Ohio
valley, going from village to
village of the Indians and ex-
changing their wares for furs.

Convinced tliat the west-
ward movement of trade and
population was favorable for a
speculation in land, some prominent men in Virginia ^ formed
the Ohio Company, and obtained from the British king a grant
of five hundred thousand acres in the Ohio valley on condition
that within seven years a hundred families should be settled on
it and a fort built and garrisoned.

1 Among the members of the company were Governor Dinwiddle of Vir-
ginia, and two brothers of George Washington.

Early forts in the Ohio valley.

WARS WITH THE FRENCH

131

Governor Dinwiddle Alarmed — When, therefore, Governor
Dinwiddle of Virginia heard that the French were building
forts on the Allegheny, he became greatly alarmed, and sent a
messenger to demand their withdrawal. But the envoy, becom-
ing frightened, soon turned back. Clearly a man was wanted,
and Dinwiddle selected George Washington,^ a young man of
twenty-one and an officer in the Virginia militia.

Washington's First Public Service. — Washington was to
find out the whereabouts of the French, proceed to the French
post, deliver a letter to
the officer in command,
and demand an answer.
He was also to find out
how many forts the
French had built, how
far apart they were, how
well garrisoned, and
whether they were
likely to be supported
from Quebec.

Having received
these instructions, Wash-
ington made his way in
the depth of winter to
Fort Le Boeuf, delivered the governor's letter, and brought
back the refusal of the French officer to withdraw.^

1 George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, at Bridges Creek, in Vir-
ginia. At fourteen he thought seriously of going to sea, but became a surveyor,
and at sixteen was sent to survey part of the vast estate of Lord Fairfax wliich
lay beyond the Blue Ridge. He lived the life of a frontiersman, slept in tents,
in cabins, in the open, and did his work so well that he was made a public sur-
veyor. This position gave him steady occupation for three years, and a knowl-
edge of woodcraft and men that stood him in good stead in time to come. When
he was nineteen, his brother Lawrence procured him an appointment as an
adjutant general of Virginia with the rank of major, a post he held in October,
1753, when Dinwiddle sent him, accompanied by a famous frontiersman,
Christopher Gist, to find the French.

2 On the way home Washington left tlis men in charge of the horses and
baggage, put on Indian walking dress, and with Christopher Gist set off by

MOM. BRIEF — 9

Washington at Fort Le Bceuf.

132 RIVALS OF THE ENGLISH

Fort Duquesne (1754). — Dinwiddle now realized that the
French held the Allegheny, and that if they were to be shut
out of the Ohio valley something had to be done at once.
He therefore sent a party of backwoodsmen to build a fort
at the forks of the Ohio (where Pittsburg now is). While
they were at work, the French came down the Allegheny, cap-
tured the half-built fort, and in place of it erected a larger
one which they named Duquesne (doo-kan').

Great Meadows. — Meantime Washington had been sent
with some soldiers to Wills Creek in western Maryland. When
he heard of the capture of the fort, he started westward, cut-
ting a road for wagons and cannon as he went, and camped
for a time at Great Meadows, in southwestern Pennsylvania.
There, one night, he received word from Half King, a friendly
Indian encamped with his band six miles away, that a French
force was hidden near at hand. Washington with some forty
men set off at once for the Indian camp, and reached it at day-
light. A plan of attack was agreed on, and the march begun.
On Washington's approach, the French flew to arms, and a
sharp fight ensued in which the French commander Jumon-
ville ^ and nine of his men were killed.

the nearest way through- the woods on foot. "The following day," says Washing-
ton, in his account of the journey, "just after we had passed a place called Mur-
dering town, ... we fell in with a party of French Indians, who had lain in
wait for us. One of them fired at Mr. Gist or me, not fifteen steps off, but
fortunately missed." The next day they came to a river. " There was no way
of getting over but on a raft, . . . but before we were half over we were jammed
in the ice. ... I put out my setting pole to try and stop the raft that the ice
might pass by, when the rapidity of the stream threw it with such force against
the pole, that it jerked me out into ten feet of water, but I fortunately saved
myself by catching hold of one of the raft logs." They were forced to swim to
an island, and next day crossed on the ice. Read Parkman's Montcalm and
Wolfe, Vol. I, pp. 132-136.

1 The French claimed that Jumonville was the bearer of a dispatch from
the commander at the Ohio, that after the Virginians fired twice he made a sign
that he was the bearer of a letter, that the firing ceased, that they gathered
about him And while he was reading killed him and his companions. Juraon-
ville's death has therefore been called an "assassination" by French writers.
The story rested on false statements made by Indians friendly to the French. In
reality, there is ample proof that Jumonville made no attempt to deliver any
message to Washington.

WARS WITH THE FRENCH 133

Fort Necessity. — At Great Meadows Washington now threw
up an intrenchment called Fort Necessity. Some more men
having reached him, he left a few at the fort and went on
westward again. But he had not gone far when word came
that the French were coming to avenge the death of Jumonville.
Washington therefore fell back to the fort, where he was
attacked and on July 4, 1754, was forced to surrender, but
was allowed to return to Virginia with his men.

All previous wars between France and England had begun
in the Old World, but now a great struggle had begun in the
New.

SUMMARY

1. When William and Mary became king and queen of England, war
with France followed. In the colonies this was called King William's
War (1689-97).

2. The French fiom Canada ravaged the New England frontier and
burned Schenectady in New York. The English colonists captured Port
Royal, but failed to take Montreal and Quebec.

3. After four years of peace (1697-1701), war between France and
England was renewed. This was called Queen Anne's War (1701-13).

4. The great event of the war was the conquest of Acadia. Port
Royal was named Annapolis; Acadia was called Nova Scotia.

5. Thirty-one years of peace followed. Daring this time the French
occupied the Mississippi valley, and built the fortress of Louisburg on Cape
Breton Island.

6. During King George's War (1744-48), Louisburg was captured, but
it was returned by the treaty of peace.

7. France now p oceeded to occupy the Ohio valley, and built forts on
a branch of the Allegheny.

8. The British also claimed the Ohio valley, and started to build a fort
on the site of Pittsburg, but were driven off by the French.

9. Troops under George Washington, on their way toward the fort,
defeated a small French force, but were themselves captured by the French
at Fort Necessity (July 4, 1754).

85 Longitude 80 West from 75 Greenwich 70

134

CHAPTER XI

THE FRENCH DRIVEN FROM AMERICA

The Situation in 1754. — The French were now in armed ^
possession of the Ohio valley. Their chain of forts bounded
the British colonies from Lake Champlain to Fort Duquesne.
Unless they were dislodged, all hope of colonial expansion west-
ward was ended. To dislodge them meant war, and the cer-
tainty of war led to a serious attempt to unite the colonies.

By order of the Lords of Trade, a convention of delegates
from the colonies ^ was held at Albany to secure by treaty and
presents the friendship of the Six Nations of Indians ; it would
not do to let those powerful tribes go over to the French in the
coming war. After treating with the Indians, the convention
proceeded to consider the question whether all the colonies
could not be united for defense and for the protection of their
interests.

Franklin's Plan of Union. — One of the delegates was Benja-
min Franklin. In his newspaper, the
Philadelphia Gazette^ he had urged
union, and he had put this device ^ at
the top of an account of the capture
of the Ohio fort (afterward Duquesne)
by the French. At the convention
he submitted a plan of union calling
for a president general and a grand council of representatives
from the colonies to meet each year. They were to make

1 New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York,
Pennsylvania, and Maryland were the only colonies represented.

2 There was an old superstition that if a snake were cut into pieces and the
pieces allowed to touch, they would join and the snake would not die. Franklin
meant that unless the separate colonies joined they would be conquered.

135

136

RIVALS OF THE ENGLISH

treaties with the Indians, regulate the affairs of the colonies as
a whole, levy taxes, build forts, and raise armies. The conven-
tion adopted the plan, but
both the colonial legisla-
tures and the Lords of
Trade in London rejected
it.i

The Five Points of At-,
tack. — The French held
five strongholds, which
shut the British out of
New France and Louisi-
ana, and threatened the
English colonies.

1. Louisburg threat-
ened New England and
Nova Scotia.

2. Quebec controlled
the St. Lawrence.

3. Crown Point (and
later Ticonderoga), on

Lake Charaplain, guarded the water route to New York and
threatened the Hudson valley.

1 Franklin was bom in Boston in 1706, the youngest son in a family of
seventeen children. He went to work in his father's candle shop when ten years
old. He was fond of reading, and by saving what little money he could secure,
bought a few books and read them thoroughly. When twelve, he was bound
apprentice to a brother who was a printer. At seventeen he ran away to Phil-
adelphia, where he found work in a printing ofl&ce, and in 1729 owned a news-
paper of his own, which soon became the best and most entertaining in the
colonies. His most famous publication is Poor Bichard^s Almanac. To this
day the proverbs and common sense sayings of Poor Richard are constantly
quoted. Franklin was a good citizen: he took part in the founding of the first
public library in Philadelphia, the formation of the first fire engine company,
and the organization of the first militia, and he persuaded the authorities to light
and pave streets and to establish a night watch. He is regarded as the founder
of the University of Pennsylvania. Franklin was also a man of science. He
discovered that lightning is electricity, invented the lightning rod, and wrote
many scientific papers. He served in the legislature of Pennsylvania, and was
made postmaster general for the colonies. All these things occurred before 1764,

Franklin, at the age of 70.

THE FRENCH DRIVEN FROM AMERICA

137

4. Niagara guarded the portage between Lakes Ontario
and Erie, and threatened New York on the west.

5. Fort Duquesne controlled the Ohio and threatened
Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The plan of the British was to
strengthen their hold on Nova Scotia
(Acadia), and to attack three of the
French strongholds — Crown Point, Ni-
agara, and Fort Duquesne — at the
same time.

Acadia. — Late in May, 1755, there-
fore, an expedition set sail from Boston,
made its way up the Bay of Fundy,
captured the French forts at the head
of that bay, reduced all Acadia to Brit-
ish rule, and tendered the oath of alle-
giance to the French Acadians. This
they refused to take, whereupon they
were driven on board ships at the
point of the bayonet and carried off
and distributed among the colonies.^

Crown Point. — The army against
Crown Point, composed of troops from
the four New England colonies and
New York, gathered at Albany, and
under command of William Johnson ^ marched to the head of
Lake George, where ' it beat the French under Dieskau

•,Ov.;aU.

■M ■■ii) Hh

Forts in northern New York.

1 About six thousand were carried off. Nowhere were they welcome. Some
who were taken to Boston made their way to Canada. Such as reached South
Carolina and Georgia were given leave to return ; but seven little boatloads were
stopped at Boston. Others reached Louisiana, where their descendants still
live. A few succeeded in returning to Acadia. Do not fail to read Longfellow's
poem Evangeline, a beautiful story founded on this removal of the Acadians.
Was it necessary to remove the Acadians ? Read Parkraan's Montcalm and
Wolfe, Vol. I, pp. 234-241, 256-266, 276-284 ; read also " The Old French
War," Part ii, Chap, viii, in Hawthorne's Grandfather^ s Chair.

'^ Sir William Johnson was born in Ireland in 1715, and came to America in
1738 to take charge of his uncle's property in the Mohawk valley. He settled

138 RIVALS OF THE ENGLISH

(dees^kou), and built Fort William Henry; but it did not
reach Crown Point.

Niagara. — A third army, under General Shirley of Massa-
chusetts, likewise set out from Albany, and pushing across New
York reached Oswego, when all thought of attacking Niagara
was abandoned. News had come of the crushing defeat of
Braddock.

Braddock's Defeat. — Under the belief that neither colonial
officers nor colonial troops were of much account, the mother
country at the opening of the war sent over Edward Braddock,
one of her best officers, and two regiments of regulars. Brad-
dock came to Virginia, appointed Washington one of his aids,
and having gathered some provincial troops, set off from Fort
Cumberland in Maryland for Fort Duquesne. The country to
be traversed was a wilderness. No road led through the woods,
so the troops were forced to cut one as they went slowly west-
ward (map, p. 144).

. On July 9, 1755, when some eight miles from Fort Du-
quesne, those in the van suddenly beheld what seemed to be an
Indian coming toward them, but was really a French officer
with a band of French and Indians at his back. The mo-
ment he saw the British he stopped and waved his hat in the
air, whereupon his followers disappeared in the bushes and
opened fire. The British returned the fire and stood their
ground manfully, but as they could not see their foe, while
their scarlet coats afforded a fine target, they were shot down
by scores, lost heart, huddled together, and when at last Brad-
dock was forced to order a retreat, broke and fled.^

about twenty miles west of Schenectady, and engaged in the Indian trade. He
dealt honestly with the Indians, learned their language, attended their feasts,
and, tomahawk in hand, danced their dances in Indian dress. He even took as
his wife a sister of Brant, a Mohawk chief. So great was his influence with the
Indians that in 1746 he was made Commissary of New York for Indian Affairs.
In 1750 he was made a member of the provincial Council, went to the Albany
convention in 1754, and later was appointed a major general. After the expedi-
tion against Crown Point he was knighted and made Superintendent of Indian
Affairs in North America. He died in 1774.

1 It is sometimes said that Braddock fell into an ambuscade. This is a mis-

THE FRENCH DRIVEN FROM AMERICA 139

Braddock was wounded just as the retreat began, and died
as the army was hurrying back to Fort Cumberland, and lest
the Indians should find his grave, he was buried in the road,
and all traces of the grave were obliterated by the troops
and wagons passing over it. From Fort Cumberland the
British marched to Philadelphia, and the whole frontier was
left to the mercy of the French and Indians.

French Victories. — War parties were sent out from Fort
Duquesne in every direction, settlement after settlement was
sacked, and before November the Indians were burning, plun-
dering, massacring, scalping within eighty miles of Philadel-
phia. During the two following years (1756-57), the French
were all energy and activity, and the British were hard
pressed.2 Oswego and Fort William Henry were captured,^
and the New York frontier was ravaged by the French.

British Victories (1758). — And now the tide turned.
William Pitt, one of the great Englishmen of his day, was
placed at the head of public affairs in Great Britain, and de-
voted himself with all his energy to the conduct of the war.
He chose better commanders, infused enthusiasm into men and

take. He was surprised because he did not send scouts ahead of his army ; but
the Indians were not in ambush. Braddock would not permit the troops to
figlit in Indian fashion from behind trees and bushes, but forced his men to
form in platoons. A part of the regulars who tried to fight behind trees Brad-
dock beat with his sword and forced into line. Some Virginians who sought
shelter behind a huge fallen tree were mistaken for the enemy and fired on. In
the fight and after it Washington was most prominent. Twice a horse was shot
under him. Four bullets passed through his clothes. When the retreat began,
he rallied the fugitives, and brought off the wounded Braddock.

2 War between France and Great Britain was declared in May, 1756. In
Europe it was known as the Seven Years' War; in America as the French
and Indian. On the side of France were Russia and Austria. On the side
of Great Britain was Frederick the Great of Prussia. The fighting went on not
only in America, but in the West Indies, on the European Continent, in the
Mediterranean, and in India.

3 When the colonial troops surrendered Fort William Henry, the Frencli
commander, Montcalm, agreed that they should return to their homes in safety.
But the Indians, maddened by liquor, massacred a large number, and carried off
some six hundred prisoners. Montcalm finally secured the release of some four
hundred. Cooper's novel The Last of the Mohicans treats of the war about Lake
George.

140

RIVALS OF THE ENGLISH

officers alike, and the result was a series of victories. A fleet
of frigates and battleships, with an army of ten thousand men,
captured Louisburg. Three thousand provincials in open boats

crossed Lake Ontario,
^..J^....^^^. ^^^;^^^ ^ took Fort Frontenac,
^^^ ^^■*'^^M^^^^ ^(4/Jp and thus cut communi-
<^^^=^^.=i*C^^..>^^r:,^ .yi,:. ^^^^^^ between Que-
bec and the Ohio. A
third expedition, un-
der Forbes and Wash-

^/^7fiir^A*^<^:0^^if^'^^^^^^-^!^'^^ ^.^^ ..

//^•58^ ^.«^ Y^^^^^i^ ^^^Cr ington, marched slowly
'^y^r^ Z":^^^^^-^^ ^^^^ across Pennsylvania, to

/^^^^•/y^

find Fort Duquesne in
ruins and the French
gone.i

Victories of 1759. —
Two of the five strong-
holds (Louisburg and
Fort Duquesne) were
now under the British
flag, and the next year
(1759) the three others

Letter written by Washington's mother.

In the possession of the Pennsylvania Historical Society

met a like fate. An expedition under Prideaux (prid'o) and
Sir William Johnson captured Fort Niagara ; an army under
Amherst took Ticonderoga and Crown Point ; and a fleet and
army led by Wolfe, a young officer distinguished at Louisburg,
took Quebec.

Quebec, 1759. — The victory at Quebec was the greatest of
the war. The fortress was the strongest in America, and stood

1 Instead of using the road cut by Braddock, Forbes chose another route,
(map, p. 144), and spent much time in road making. Late in September he was
still fifty miles from Fort Duquesne, and decided to go into winter quarters. But
the French attacked Forbes and were beaten ; and from some prisoners Forbes
learned that the garrison at Fort Duquesne was weak. A picked force of men,
with Washington and his Virginians in the lead, then hurried forward, and
reached the fort to find it abandoned. A new stockade was built near by, and
named Fort Pitt, and the place was named Pittsburg.

THE FRENCH DRIVEN f'ROM AMERICA

141

on the crest of a high cliff which rose from the waters of the
St. Lawrence. The French commander, Montcalm, was a brave
and able soldier. But one night in September, 1759, the Brit-
ish general, Wolfe, led his

RE OF

BEC

0 12 3 4 S

army up the steep cliff west
of the city, and in the morn-
ing formed in battle array on
the Plains of Abraham. A
great battle followed. Both
Wolfe and Montcalm were
killed ; but the British won,
and Quebec has ever since
been under their flag. Mont-
real fell the next year (1760),
and Canada was conquered. ^

Spain cedes Florida to Great Britain. — In the spring of 1761„
France made proposals of peace ; but while the negotiation
was under way, Spain allied herself with France, and was soon
dragged into the war. The British thereupon captured Havana
and Manila (1762), and thus became for a short time masters of
Cuba and the Philippines. A few weeks later preliminary
articles of peace were signed (November, 1762), and the final
(or definitive) treaty in 1763. Spain ceded Florida to Great
Britain in return for Cuba. News of the capture of the Philip-
pines was not received till after the preliminary treaty was
signed ; the islands were tlierefore returned without any equiv-
alent.2

The French quit America. — By the treaties of 17612 and
1763 France withdrew from America.

To Great Britain were ceded (1) all of New France (or
Canada), Cape Breton Island, and all the near-by islands save
two small ones near Newfoundland, and (2) all of Louisiana east

1 Read Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe, Vol. II, pp. 280-297. The fall of
Quebec is treated in fiction in Gilbert Parker's Seats of the Mighty.

2 When Manila was captured, all private property was saved from plunder
by the promise of a ransom of £1,000,000. One half was paid in money, and
the rest in bills on the Spanish treasury. Spain never paid these bills.

THE FRENCH DRIVEN FROM AMERICA 143

of the Mississippi save the city of New Orleans and a little
territory above and below the city.

To recompense Spain for her loss in the war, France ceded
to her New Orleans and the neighboring territory, and all of
Louisiana west of the Mississippi.

The Province of Quebec. — The acquisition of New France
made it nscessary for Great Britain to provide for its govern-
ment. To do this she drew a line about the part inhabited by
whites, and established the province of Quebec. The south
boundary of the new province should be carefully observed,
for it became the northern boundary of New York and New
England.

The Proclamation Line. — The proclamation which created
the province of Quebec also drew a line " beyond the sources
of the rivers which flow into the Atlantic from the west and
northwest " : beyond this line no governor of any of the colo-
nies was to grant land. This meant that the king cut off the
claims to western lands set forth in the charters of Massa-
chusetts, Connecticut, Virginia, Carolina, and Georgia. The
territory so cut off was for the present to be reserved for the
Indians.

The Provinces of East and West Florida. — The proclamation
of 1763 also created two ^ other provinces. One called East
Florida was so much of the present state of Florida as lies east
of the Apalachicola River. West Florida was all the territory
received from Spain west of the Apalachicola.^

To Georgia was annexed the territory between the St.
Marys River, the proclamation line, and the Altamaha.

The Frontier. — British settlements did not yet reach the
Allegheny Mountains. In New York they extended a short
distance up the Mohawk River. In Pennsylvania the little
town of Bedford, in Maryland Fort Cumberland, and in Vir-
ginia the Allegheny Mountains marked the frontier (p. 144).

1 The north boundary was the parallel of 31° ; but in 1764 West Florida was
enlarged, and the north boundary became the parallel of latitude that passes
through the mouth of the Yazoo River.

144

RIVALS OF THE ENGLISH

The Wilderness Routes and Forts. — Through the wilderness
lymg beyond the frontier ran several lines of forts intended
to protect routes of communication. Thus in New York the
route up the Mohawk to Oneida Lake and down Oswego
River to Lake Ontario was protected by Forts Stanwix,
Brewerton, and Oswego. From Fort Oswego the route con-
tinued by water to Fort Niagara at the mouth of the river of

:G::A:;:N;:;A-^DvA

.\>>-'Phila<lrlplnr// .

Wilderness routes and forts.

that name, then along the Niagara River and by Lake Erie to
Presque Isle, then by land to Fort Le Bceuf, then by river
to Fort Pitt.

From Fort Pitt two roads led back to the frontier. One
leading to the Potomac valley was that cut from Fort Cum-
berland by Braddock (in 1755) and known as Braddock's Road.
The other to Bedford on the Pennsylvania frontier was cut
by General Forbes (in 1758).

Along the shores of the Great Lakes were a few forts built

THE FRENCH DRIVEN FROM AMERICA

145

by the French and now held by the British. These were San-
dusky, Detroit, Mackinaw, and St. Joseph.

Pontiac's War. — Between this chain of forts and the Mis-
sissippi River, in the region given up by France, lived many
tribes of Indians, old friends of the French and bitter enemies
of the British. The old enmity was kept aflame by the French
Canadians, who still carried on the fur trade with the Indians.^

Old Fort Niagara.

When, therefore, Pontiac, a chief of the Ottawas, in 1762
sent out among the Indian nations ambassadors with the war
belt of wampum, and tomahawks stained red in token of war,
the tribes everywhere responded to the call.^ From the Ohio

1 They told the Indians that the British would soon be driven out, and that
the Mississippi River and Canada would again be in French hands ; that the
British were trying to destroy the Indian race, and for this purpose were build-
ing forts and making settlements.

2 Read Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac ; Kirk Munroe's At War with
Pontiac.

146 RIVALS OF THE ENGLISH

and its tributaries to the upper lakes, and southward to the
mouth of the Mississippi, they banded against the British, and
early in 1763, led by Pontiac, swept down on the frontier forts.
Detroit was attacked, Presque Isle was captured, Le Bceuf and
Venango were burned to the ground. Fort Pitt was besieged,
and the frontier of Pennsylvania laid waste. Of fourteen
posts from Mackinaw to Oswego, all but four were taken by
the Indians. It seemed that not a settler would be left west
of the Susquehanna ; but a little army under Colonel Bouquet
beat the Indians, cleared the Pennsylvania frontier, and relieved
Fort Pitt in 1763 ; another army in 1764 passed along the lake
shore to Detroit and quieted the Indians in that region, while
Bouquet (1764) invaded the Ohio country, forced the tribes to
submit, and released two hundred white prisoners.

SUMMARY

1. The war which followed the defeat of Washington is known as the
French and Indian War.

2. Fearing that the French Acadians in Nova Scotia would become
troublesome, the British dispersed them among the colonies.

3. The strongholds of the French were Louisburg, Quebec, Crown
Point, Niagara, and Fort Duquesne.

4. The first expedition against Fort Duquesne ended in Braddock's
defeat; expeditions against other strongholds came to naught, and during
the early years of the war the French carried everything before them.

5. But when Pitt rose to power in England, the tide turned : Louis-
burg and Fort Duquesne were captured (in 1758) ; Niagara, Ticonderoga,
Crown Point, and Quebec were taken (in 1759); and Montreal fell in 1760.

6. Spain now joined in the war, whereupon Great Britain seized Cuba
and the Philippines.

7. Peace was made in 1762-63 : the conquests from Spain were restored
to her, but Florida was ceded to Great Britain ; and France gave up her
possessions in North America.

8. Canada, Cape Breton, and all Louisiana east of the Mississippi, save
New Orleans and vicinity, went to Great Britaini.

9. New Orleans and Louisiana west of the Mississippi went to Spain.

10. Great Britain then established the new provinces of Quebec and
East and West Florida, and drew the Proclamation Line.

11. A great Indian uprising, known as Pontiac's War, followed the
peace, but was quickly put down.

CHAPTER XTI
THE QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY

The French and Indian War gave the colonists valuable
training as soldiers, freed them from the danger of attack by
their French neighbors, and so made them less dependent on
Great Britain for protection. But the mother country took no
account of this, and at once began to do things which in ten
years' time drove the colonies into rebellion.

Causes of the Quarrel. — We are often told that taxation
without representation was the cause of the Revolution. It
was indeed one cause, and a very important one, but not the
only one by any means. The causes of the Revolution, as
stated in the Declaration of Independence, were many, and
arose chiefly from an attempt of the mother country to (1) en-
force the laws concerning trade, (2) quarter royal troops in the
colonies,^ and (3) support the troops by taxes imposed without
consent of the colonies.

The Trade Laws were enacted by Parliament between 1650
and 1764 for the purpose of giving Great Britain a monopoly
of colonial trade. By their provisions —

1. No goods were to be carried from any port in Europe to
America unless first landed in England.

2. Many articles of colonial production, as tobacco, cotton,
silk, indigo, furs, rice, sugar, could not be sent to any country
save England ; but lumber, salt fish, and provisions could be
sent also to France, Spain, or other foreign countries.

3. To help English wool manufacture, the colonists were
forbidden to send their woolen goods or hats to any country
whatever, or even from colony to colony.

iThat is, compel the colonists to furnish quarters — rooms or houses — for
the troops to live in. Read Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe^ Vol. I, pp. 439-440.

147

148 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

4. To help English iron manufacture, the colonists were
forbidden to make steel.

5. To help the British West Indies, a heavy duty was laid
(in 1733) on sugar or molasses imported from any other than
a British possession.

Smuggling. — Had these laws been rigidly enforced they
would have been severe indeed, but they could not be rigidly
enforced. They were openly violated, and smuggling became
so common in every colony ^ that the cost of collecting the
revenue was much more than the amount gathered.

This smuggling the British government now determined
to end. Accordingly, in 1764, the colonies were ordered to
stop all unlawful trade, naval vessels were stationed off the
coast to seize smugglers, and new courts, called vice-admiralty
courts, were set up in which smugglers when caught were to
be tried without a jury.^

A Standing Army. — It was further proposed to send over
ten thousand regular soldiers to defend the colonies against
the Indians and against any attack that might be made by

iln order to detect and seize smugglers the crown had resorted to "writs
of assistance." The law required that every ship bringing goods to America
should come to some established port and that her cargo should be reported at
the customhouse. Instead, the smugglers would secretly land goods elsewhere.
If a customs officer suspected this, he could go to court and ask for a search
warrant, stating the goods for which he was to seek and the place to be
searched. But this would give the smugglers warning and they could remove
the goods. What the officers wanted was a general warrant good for any goods
in any place. This writ of assistance, as it was called, was common in England,
and was issued in the colonies about 1754. In 1760 King George II died, and
all writs issued in his name expired. In 1761, therefore, application was made
to the Superior Court of Massachusetts for a new writ of assistance to run in
the name of King George III. Sixty merchants opposed the issue, and James
Otis and Oxenbridge Thacher appeared for the merchants. The speech of Otis
was a famous plea, sometimes called the beginning of colonial resistance ; but
the court granted the writ.

2 These acts are complained of in the Declaration of Independence. The
king is blamed " For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world," that is,
enforcing the trade laws ; again, ' ' He has erected a multitude of new offices,
and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people," that is to say, the
vice-admiralty judges and naval officers sworn to act as customhouse officers and
seize smugglers. In doing this duty these officers did " harass our people."

THE QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY

149

France or Spain. The colonists objected to the troops on
the ground that they had not asked for soldiers and did not
need any.

The Stamp Act. — As the cost of keep-
ing the troops would be very great, it was
decided to raise part of the money needed
by a stamp tax which Parliament enacted
in 1765. The Stamp Act applied not only
to tlie thirteen colonies, but also to Can-
ada, Florida, and the West Indies, and
was to take effect on and after November
1, 1765.1

1. Every piece of vellum or paper on
which was written any legal document
for use in any court was to be charged
with a stamp duty of from three pence to
ten pounds.

2. Many kinds of documents not used
in court, and newspapers, almanacs, etc.,
were to be written or printed only on
stamped paper made in England and sold at prices fixed by
law.

The money raised by the stamp tax was not to be taken to
Great Britain, but was to be spent in the colonies in the pur-
chase of food and supplies for the troops.

The Colonies deny the Right of Parliament to tax them. —
But the colonists cared not for what use the money was in-
tended. " No taxation without representation," was their cry.

British soldier.

1 While the Stamp Act was under debate in Parliament, Colonel Barr^, who
fought under Wolfe at Louisburg, opposed it. A member had spoken of the
colonists as "children planted by our care, nourished by our indulgence, and
protected by our arms." "They planted by your carel" said Barr^. "No,
your oppression planted them in America. Nourished by your indulgence I
They grew up by your neglect of them. They protected by your arms ! These
Sons of Liberty have nobly taken up arms in your defense." The words " Sons
of Liberty" were at once seized on, and used in our country to designate the
opponents of the stamp tax. Read "The Stamp Act" in Hawthorne's Grand-
father''s Chair.

150 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

They cast no votes for a member of Parliament ; therefore,
they said, they were not represented in Parliament. Not
being represented, they could not be taxed by Parliament,
because taxes could lawfully be laid on them only by their
chosen representatives. ^

In the opinion of the British people the colonists were
represented in Parliament. British subjects in America, it was
held, were just as much represented in the House of Commons
as were the people of Manchester or Birmingham, neither of
which sent a member to the House. Each member of the
House represented not merely the few men who elected him,
but all the subjects of the British crown everywhere. ^

The Colonies Resist. — Resistance to the Stamp Act began
in Virginia, where the House of Burgesses passed a set of
resolutions written by Patrick Henry. ^ In substance they

1 The colonists did not deny the right of Parliament to regulate the trade
of the whole British Empire, and to lay "external taxes" — customs duties —
for the purpose of regulating trade. But this stamp tax was an ' ' internal
tax " for the purpose of raising revenue.

2 Parliament was divided then, as now, into two houses — the Lords, con-
sisting of nobles and clergy, and the Commons, consisting then of two members
elected by each county and two elected by each of certain towns. Some change
was made in the list of towns thus represented in Parliament before the sixteenth
century, but no change had been made since, though many of them had lost all
or most of their population. Thus Old Sarum had become a green mound ; its
population had all drifted away to Salisbuiy. A member of the Commons,
so the story runs, once said ; "I am the member from Ludgesshall. I am also
the population of Ludgesshall. When the sheriff's writ comes, I announce
the election, attend the poll, deposit my vote for myself, sign the return, and
here I am." "When a town disappeared, the landowner of the soil on which
it once stood appointed the two members. Such towns were called "rotten
boroughs," " pocket boroughs," " nomination boroughs."

8 Patrick Henry was born in Virginia in 1736. As a youth he was dull and
indolent and gave no sign of coming greatness. After two failures as a store-
keeper and one as a farmer he turned in desperation to law, read a few books,
and with difficulty passed the examination necessary for admittance to the bar.
Henry had now found his true vocation. Business came to him, and one day in
1763 he argued the weak (but popular) side of a case with such eloquence that
he carried court and jury with him, and it is said was carried out of the court-
house on the shoulders of the people. He was now famous, and in 1766 was
elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses to represent the county in which he
had lived, just in time to take part in the proceedings on the Stamp Act. His part

THE QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY 151

declared that the colonists were British subjects and were not
bound to obey any law taxing them without the consent of
their own legislatures.

Patrick Henry addressing the Virginia Assembly. From an old print.

Massachusetts came next with a call for a congress of dele-
gates from the colonies, to meet at New York in October.

The Stamp Act Congress, 1765. — Nine of the colonies sent
delegates, and after a session of twenty days the representa-
tives of six signed a declaration of rights and grievances.

The declaration of rights set forth that a British subject
could not be taxed unless he was represented in the legislature
that imposed the tax ; that Americans were not represented in
Parliament ; and that therefore the stamp tax was an attack on
the rights of Englishmen and the liberty of self-government.

was to move the resolutions and support them in a fiery and eloquent speech,
of which one passage has been preserved. Recalling the fate of tyrants of other
times, he exclaimed, " Csesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and
George the Third — ." " Treason ! treason ! " shouted the Speaker. " Treason 1
treason! " shouted the members. To which Henry answered, "and George the
Third may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it."

McM. BRIEF — 10

152

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

The grievances complained of were trial without jury, re-
strictions on trade, taxation without representation, and espe-
cially the stamp tax.

The Stamp Distributers. — In August, 1765, the names of
the men in America chosen to be the distributers or sellers of
the stamps and stamped paper were made public, and then the
people began to act. Demands were made that the distribu-
ters should resign. When they refused, the people rose and
by force compelled them to resign, and riots occurred in the
chief seaboard towns from New Hampshire to Maryland. At
Boston the people broke into the house of the lieutenant
governor and destroyed his fine library and papers.

^T^MUay, 05^^31, 1765. THE KUMB. 119,-.

[PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL;

AND

WEEKLY ADVERTISER.

EXPIRING: In Hopes of a Refurrcaioj> to Life again.

AM forry w be obliged j
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Act. itfwr'dtobei* j
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thsranyMethodscan be found to elude thtr^
ChJos forged for us, and efcape the infu|>- [
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iku%

I And ia ill poliliol DifonJm «h« more conttntrd »« ire
d0 tbco). fo much <hc wont ate llity, and (a mucl<
c wirlt an n Tur Hwm. li ia • nty hicpf Cmum-
■ poWfc Vino* mmJ puWic 5|.jrit, ibil
ili&d. ifcc iMrt UMfioai it al.(iy, ap
rm. Mo Fattood fbnDcil asaini it can ptDrpcr. Tor it
Mtdotfir >Dd ranfain the daikrH aud moit io<ctt
Calonoy. Bat jliho«ijh puWic Vinue caiiiwl h«
Htd by the Indulgei-ce of the raoft uiilimileil f tea

I of feioking or writiiif, )el OpiTrlT."!! and Tyiao

II it cferives all in lrfii;ence frcm lt« bctrecy. nuy l-e
: bei>tfiic<l by the Re»e>le. For ib'a re f "ii. in
I rab)aa< d to the imaiiable Demandi oT P^tr
rice, ibc firft Aurmpta «o inrpire Pccfle wrtk.b

iail Ser fe of ilieir Cooiiti.n, ate commonly nip« inthe
I. ltiioftl.claAjo.foriii.teu>ik«\ie«jofJ>f:(ro
Mm to (hut op tbv it'bfi itKCc iful aid utii^juial
miic! of Infuiouticn from die reopJe, »h<-i» n-ey«rt
iiifig liKb Schenwi at need oiliy to be known m nr-
lo be OpjXrfeJ. BeMfi llie Deptl.a'ion STKjur
Liberty nil] be jiif .fed on Ih« Umc KiinciplMi

I CA. 7.^1,. letlera brought by th«la»U>''««"
C.btalwr fay, the report hcf..re IpieKl, lh« iKTaIii

L O N D O

J-pf'l- OnTlitir<iayatiheiing''(
Coml.ill, anelennl enlrrtainnieat va>

/be )iirif>rt on ine lai
any imli.idaal filt, lyU af llic Li-H no* l rucrlv M account of the
Jeny ,i tbc PrcJa ta dr wb adlr ia. ■ i* i>o(I«ir«a.*. To« nrtaitft

iita to Rxhard
. . » I""* Jemle-,
men trcei«ed thelbtukaoftbal body, for their endea. J
1 the foldii ry from ht[Bf biRcTeJ upon |
ca oltbcir rellow-rubieAi in America.
Jr,m «« ^/T i« lif e^Jf-hJis Ja-vitr, I
tU JhrtMr tamf, jMaamy U i7*j.
In my Iail 1 aci|uinlt4 you Ibal •« d,d at ItA it-j
atlce Madore. Th« arm* bai tnct ccmquerrd the Arte-
tui'ccunt^ tor the Nabob, at i.«^aool. craeauc a year.
We are iio« under ordera to attack another chief, or
(Wtugor conlljyoct td illii country | both cklcl. Iiare
ed an iMiependeney of the Nabob nit I
ini|H ncinble Kooda ik«y I
kaacbcwdbctonoroi*!

On November 1, 1765, the Stamp Act went into force, but
not a stamp or a piece of stamped paper could be had in any
of the thirteen colonies. Some of the newspapers ceased to
be printed, the last issues appearing with black borders,

THE QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY 153

death's heads, and obituary notices. But soon all were regu-
larly issued without stamps, and even the courts disregarded
the law.^

The Stamp Act Repealed, 1766. — Meantime the merchants
had been signing agreements not to import,
and the people not to buy, any British goods
for some months to come. American trade
with the mother country was thus cut off,
thousands of workmen in Great Britain were
thrown out of employment, and Parliament
was beset with petitions from British mer-
chants praying for a repeal of the stamp tax.
To enforce the act without bloodshed was im-
possible. In March, 1766, therefore. Parlia-
ment repealed the Stamp Act.^ But at the
same time it enacted another, known as the
Declaratory Act, in which it declared that
it had power to " legislate for the colonies
in all cases whatsoever."

The Townshend Acts, 1767- — In their joy
over the repeal of the Stamp Act, the colonists
gave no heed to the Declaratory Act. But
the very next year Charles Townshend, then
minister of finance, persuaded Parliament to
pass several laws since known as the Townshend Acts. One
of these forbade the legislature of New York to pass any more
laws until it had made provision for the royal troops quar-
tered in New York city. Another laid taxes on all paints,

1 In Canada and the West Indies the stamp tax was not resisted, and there
stamps were used.

2 When Parliament was considering the repeal, Benjamin Franklin, then in
London as agent for Pennsylvania and other colonies, was called before a com-
mittee and examined as to the state of colonial affairs ; read his answers in
Hart's American History told by Contemporaries, Vol. II, pp. 407-411. Pitt in
a great speech declared, " The kingdom has no right to lay a tax on the colonies,
because they are unrepresented in Parliament. I rejoice that America has
resisted." Edmund Burke, one of the greatest of Irish orators, took the same
view.

Lantern used at cele-
bration of the re-
peal of the Stamp
Act.

In the Old Statehouse,
Boston.

154

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

paper, tea, and certain other articles imported into the colo-
nies.^

The Colonies again Resist. — None of the new taxes were
heavy, but again the case was one of taxation without repre-
sentation, so the legislature of Massachusetts sent a letter to
the other colonial legislatures asking them to unite and consult
for the protection of their rights. This letter gave so great
offense to the mother country that Massachusetts was ordered
to rescind her act, and the governors of the other colonies to

see that no notice was taken of it.^
And now the royal troops for the de-
fense of the colonies began to arrive.
But Massachusetts, North Carolina,
and South Carolina refused to find
them quarters, and for such refusal
the legislature of North Carolina was
dissolved.

The Boston Massacre. — At Bos-
ton the troops were received with
every mark of hatred and disgust,
and for three years were subjected
to every sort of insult and indignity,
which they repaid in kind. The
troops led riotous lives, raced horses
on Sunday on the Common, played
" Yankee Doodle " before the church doors, and more than once
exchanged blows with the citizens. In one encounter the troops
fired on the crowd, killing five and wounding six. This was

Boston Massacre Monument.

In Boston Common,

1 In the Declaration of Independence the king is charged with giving his
assent to acts of Parliament " For suspending our own legislatures," and " For
quartering large bodies of armed troops among us," and "For imposing taxes
on us without our consent."

2 For refusing to obey, the legislature of Massachusetts was dissolved, as
were the assemblies of Maryland and Georgia for having approved it, and that
of New York for refusing supplies to the royal troops, and that of Virginia for
complaining of the treatment of New York. Read Fiske's American Bevolution,
Vol. I, pp. 28-36, 39-62.

THE QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY 155

the famous " Boston Massacre," and produced over all the land
a deep hnpression.^

Townshend Acts Repealed, 1770. — Once more the resistance
of the colonies — chiefly through refusing to buy British
goods — was successful, and Parliament took off all the Town-
shend taxes except that on tea. This import tax of three pence
a pound on tea was retained in order that the right of Parlia-
ment to tax the colonies might be asserted. But the colonists
stood firm ; they refused to buy tea shipped from Great Britain,
but smuggled it from Holland.^

Tea Tax Juggle. — By 1773 the refusal to buy tea from the
mother country was severely felt by the East India Company,
which had brought far more tea to Great Britain than it could
dispose of. Parliament then removed the export duty of
twelve pence a pound which had formerly been paid in Great
Britain on all tea shipped to the colonies. Thus after paying
the three-pence tax at the American customhouses, the tea
could be sold nine pence a pound cheaper than before.

The Tea not Allowed to be Sold. — The East India Company
now quickly selected agents in the chief seaports of the colonies,
and sent shiploads of tea consigned to them for sale.^ But the

1 The two regiments of British troops in Boston were now removed, on
demand of the people, to a fort in the harbor. The soldiers who fired the
shots were tried for murder and acquitted, save two who received light sentences.

2 One of the vessels sent to stop smuggling was the schooner Gaspee. Hav-
ing run aground in Narragan sett Bay (June, 1772), she was boarded by a party
of men in eight boats and burned. The Virginia legislature appointed a " com-
mittee of correspondence," to find out the facts regarding the destruction of
the Gaspee and " to maintain a correspondence with our sister colonies." This
plan of a committee to inform the other colonies what was happening in Virginia,
and obtain from them accurate information as to what they were doing, was
at once taken up by Massachusetts and other colonies, each of which appointed
a similar committee. Such committees afterward proved to be the means of
revolutionary organization. Read Tiske's American Revolution^ Vol. I, pp.
76-80.

8 Parliament had given the company permission to do this. The company
had long possessed the monopoly of trade with the East Indies, and the sole
right to bring tea from China to Great Britain. Before 1778, however, it was
obliged to sell the tea in Great Britain, and the business of exporting tea to the
colonies had been carried on by merchants who bought from the company.

156

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

colonists were not tempted by cheap tea ; they were determined
that Parliament should not tax them. They therefore forced
the agents to resign their commissions, and when the tea ships
arrived, took possession of them. At Philadelphia the ships
were sent back to London. At Charleston the tea was landed
and stored for three years and then seized and sold by the
state of South Carolina. At Annapolis the people forced the
owner of a tea ship to go on board and set fire to his ship ;

vessel and cargo were
thus consumed. At
Boston the people
wished the tea sent
back to London, and
when the authorities
refused to allow this,
a party of men dis-
guised as Indians
boarded the ships and
threw the tea into the
water. 1

The Intolerable
Acts. — Parliament
now determined to
punish the colonies,
and for this purpose
enacted five laws called
by the colonists the
Throwing the tea overboard, Boston. Intolerable Acts : —

1. The port of Boston was shut to trade and commerce till
the colony should pay for the tea destroyed.

2. The charter of Massachusetts was altered.

3. Persons who were accused of murder done in executing
the laws might be taken for trial to another colony or to Great
Britain.

4. The quartering of troops on the people was authorized.
1 Read " The Tea Party " in Hawthorne's Gh-andf other's Chair.

THE QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY 157

5. The boundaries of the province of Quebec were extended
to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. As Massachusetts, Con-
necticut, and Virginia claimed parts of this territory, they
regarded the Quebec Act as another act of tyranny. ^

The First Continental Congress. — Because of the passage
of these laws, a Congress suggested by Virginia and called by
Massachusetts met in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia in Sep-
tember, 1774, and issued a declaration of rights and grievances,
a petition to the king, and addresses to the people of Great
Britain, to the people of Canada, and to the people of the col-
onies. It also called a second Congress to meet on May 10,
1775, and take action on the result of the petition to the king.

lAll the Intolerable Acts are referred to in the Declaration of Independ-
ence. See if you can find the references.

SUMMARY

d. After the French and Indian "War Great Britain determined to
enforce the laws of trade.

2. It also decided that the colonies should bear a part of the cost of
their defense, and for this purpose a stamp tax was levied.

3. The right of Parliament to levy such a tax was denied by the col-
onists on the ground that they were not represented in Parliament.

4. The attempt to enforce the tax led to resistance, and a congress of
the colonies (1765) issued a declaration of rights and grievances.

5. The tax was repealed in 1766, but Parliament at the same time
asserted its right to tax.

6. The Townshend Acts (1767) tried to raise a revenue by import
duties on goods brought into the colonies. At the same time the arrival
of the troops for defense of the colonies caused new trouble ; in Boston the
people and the troops came to blows (1770).

7. The refusal of the colonists to buy the taxed articles led to the
repeal of all the taxes except that on tea (1770).

8. The colonists still refused to buy taxed tea, whereupon Parlia-
ment enabled the East India Company to send over tea for sale at a lower
price than before.

9. The tea was not allov\red to be sold. In Boston it was destroyed.

10. As a punishment Parliament enacted the five Intolerable Acts.

11. The First Continental Congress (1774) thereupon petitioned for
redress, and called a second Congress to meet the next year.

CHAPTER XIII

THE FTGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE BEGUN

Lexington, 1775. — When the
met (May 10, 1775), the mother

OLYftbLi,!

O L D and ' n' I

yTESTAMENTS

Nswly Tianflitcd oi,t of r',c

R A N S L A T I O N

6p lllG ^nifffi's ^^nrft.l -„.„„•,„.>,

John Hancock's Bible.
Now in the Old Statehouse, Boston.

second Continental Congress
country and her colonies had
come to blows.

The people of Massachu-
setts, fearing that this might
happen, had begun to col-
lect and hide arms, cannon,
and powder. General Gage,
the royal governor of Mas-
sachusetts and commander
of the British troops in Bos-
ton, was told that military
supj)lies were concealed at
Concord, a town some twenty
miles from Boston (map, p.
168). Now it happened that
in April, 1775, two active
[)atriots, Samuel Adams ^
and John Hancock, were at
Lexington, a town on the
road from Boston to Con-
cord. Gage determined to
strike a double blow at the

1 Samuel Adams was born in Boston in 1722, graduated from Harvard Col-
lege, and took so active a part in town politics that he has been called "the Man
of the Town Meeting." From 1765 to 1774 he was a member of the Massachu-
setts Assembly, and for some years its clerk. He was a member of the committee
sent to demand the removal of the soldiers after the massacre of 1770, and of that
sent to demand the resignations of the men appointed to receive the tea, and pre-
sided over the town meeting that demanded the return of the tea ships to England.
He was a member of the Continental Congress, and signed the Declaration of
Independence. After the Revolution he was lieutenant governor and then gov-
ernor of Massachusetts, and died in 1803.

158

THE FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE BEGUN

159

patriots by sending troops to arrest Adams and Hancock and
destroy the military stores. On the evening of April 18, ac-
^■^ cordingly, eight hundred regulars left Bos-

^S^^ ton as quietly as possible. Gage hoped to

_BL ^^^P ^^® expedition a secret, but the patriots

pHH in Boston, suspecting where the troops were

_ going, sent off Paul Revere ^ and William

Dawes to ride by different routes to Lex-
ington, rousing the countryside as they
went. As the British advanced, alarm bells,
signal guns, and lights in the villages gave
proof that their secret was out.

The sun was rising as the first of the
British, under Major Pitcairn, entered Lex-
ington and saw drawn up across the village
green some fifty rainutemen ^ under Captain
John Parker. " Disperse, ye villains," cried
Pitcairn; "ye rebels, disperse!" Not a man
moved, whereupon the order to
fire was given; the troops hesi-
tated to obey; Pitcairn fired his
pistol, and a moment later a volley
from the British killed or wounded
sixteen minutemen.^ Parker then
gave the order to retire. Stonfe on village green at Lexington.

One of the lanterns
hung in the belfry.

Now in the possession of
the ("oncord Antiqua-
rian Society.

1 Revere went by way of Charlestown (map, p. 160), first crossing the river
from Boston in a rowboat. As there was danger that his boat might be stopped
by the British warships, two lanterns were sliown from the belfry of the North
Church as a signal to his friends in Charlestown; and when he landed there at
midnight, he found the patriots astir, ready to give the alarm if he had not ap-
peared. Read "Paul Revere's Ride" in Longfellow's Tales of a Wayside Inn.

2 In 1774 the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts ordered one quarter of
all the militiamen to be enlisted for emergency service. They came to be known
as minutemen, and in 1775 the Continental Congress recommended "that one
fourth part of the militia in every colony, be selected for minutemen ... to be
ready on the shortest notice, to march to any place where their assistance may
be required."

' Just before the fight began Adams and Hancock left Lexington and set out
to attend the Congress at Philadelphia.

160

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Cha,

PR08J=EC-T-H1LL
COBBLl

-HILL f^eci,°",^ ^^^-~^~^...,-^—~-~^^

SBLE^-Kllflr- — --^ ^\ /.ODD Li

The Concord Fight. — From Lexington the British went on
to Concord, set the courthouse on fire, spiked some cannon,
cut down the liberty pole, and destroyed some flour. Meantime
the minutemen, having assembled beyond the village, came
toward the North Bridge, and the British who were guarding
it fell back. Shots were exchanged, and six minutemen were
killed.^ But the Americans crossed the bridge, drove back the
British, and then dispersed.

About noon the British started for Boston, with hundreds of
minutemen, who had come from all quarters, hanging on their

flanks and rear, pouring
a galling

in a galling fire from
behind trees and stone
fences and every bit of
rising ground. The re-
treat became a flight,
and the flight would have
become a rout had not
reenforcements met them
near Lexington. Pro-
tected by this force, the
defeated British entered
Boston by sundown. By
morning the hills from Charlestown to Roxbury were black
with minutemen, and Boston was in a state of siege.

When the Green Mountain Boys heard of the fight, they
took arms, and under Ethan Allen ^ surprised and captured
Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain (map, p. 168).

1 Read Emerson's Concord Hymn ; also Cooper's admirable description of
the day's fighting in Lionel Lincoln.

2 Ethan Allen was born in Connecticut in 1737, and went to Vermont about
1769. Vermont was then claimed by New York and New Hampshire, and when
New York tried to enforce her authority, the settlers in " New Hampshire Grants "
resisted, and organized as the "Green Mountain Boys" with Allen as leader.
At Fort Ticonderoga Allen found the garrison asleep. The British commandant,
awakened by the noise at his door, came out and was ordered to surrender the
fort. " By what authority?" he asked. "In the name of the Great Jehovah and
the Continental Congress," said Allen.

BOSTON,

CHARLESTOWN, ETC.

THE FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE BEGUN 161

The Second Continental Congress. — On the day that Fort
Ticonderoga was captured (May 10, 1775), the Continental
Congress met at Philadelphia. It had been created, not to
govern the colonies, nor to conduct a war, but merely to consult
concerning the public welfare, and advise what the colonies
should do. But war had begun, Congress was forced to become
a governing body, and after a month's delay it adopted the band
of patriots gathered about Boston, made it the Continental army,
and appointed George Washington (then a delegate to Congress
from Virginia) commander in chief.

Washington accepted the trust, and left Philadelphia June
21, but had not gone twenty miles when he was met by news of
the battle of Bunker Hill.

Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775. — Since the fight at Lexington and
Concord in April, troops under General Howe, Sir Henry Clin-
ton, and General Burgoyne had arrived
at Boston and raised the number there
to ten thousand. Gage now felt strong
enough to seize the hills near Boston, lest
the Americans should occupy them and
command the town. Learning of this,
the patriots determined to forestall him,
and on the Inight of June 16 twelve hun-
dred men under Prescott were sent to Drum used at Bunker
fortify Bunker Hill in Charlestown.

Hill.

Now in the possession of the
Prescott thought best to go beyond Bun- Ancient and Honorable Ar-

ker Hill, and during the night threw up *" ^'^ ompany,
a rude intrenchment on Breeds Hill instead.

To allow batteries to be planted there would never do, so
Gage dispatched Howe with nearly three thousand regulars to
drive away the Americans and hold the hill. Coming over from
Boston in boats, the British landed and marched up the hill till
thirty yards from the works, when a deadly volley mowed
down the front rank and sent the rest down the hill in disorder.

A little time elapsed before the regulars were seen again
ascending, only to be met by a series of volleys at short range.

162 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

The British fought stubbornly, but were once more forced to
retreat, leaving the hillside covered with dead and wounded.
Their loss was dreadful, but Howe could not bear to give
up the fight, and a third time the British were led up the
hill. The powder of the Americans was spent, and the fight
was hand to hand with stones, butts of muskets, anything that
would serve as a weapon, till the bayonet charges of the British
forced the Americans to retreat. ^

Washington in Command. — Two weeks later Washington
reached Cambridge and took formal command of the army.
For eight months he kept the British shut up in Boston, while
he gathered guns, powder, and cannon, and trained the men.

To the Continental army meantime came troops from Virginia,
Maryland, Pennsylvania, and of course from the four New
England colonies, commanded by men who were destined to
rise to high positions during the war. There was Daniel Mor-
gan of Virginia, with a splendid band of sharpshooters, and
Israel Putnam of Connecticut, John Stark and John Sullivan
of New Hampshire, Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island, Henry
Knox of Boston, Horatio Gates of Virginia, and Benedict
Arnold and Charles Lee who later turned traitors.

The Hessians. — When King George III heard of the fight at
Bunker Hill, he issued a proclamation declaring the colonists
rebels, closed their ports to trade and commerce,^ and sought

1 Read Fiske's American Bevolution, Vol. I, pp. 136-146, and Holmes's
Grandmother'' s IStoi-y of Bunker Hill. The British lost 1054 and the Americans
449. Among the British dead was Pitcairn, who began the war at Lexington.
Among the American dead was Dr. Warren, an able leader of the Boston patriots.
While the battle was raging, Charlestown was shelled and set on fire and four
hundred houses burned. Later, in October, a British fleet entered the harbor of
Falmouth (now Portland in Maine), and burned three fourths of the houses.
January 1, 1776, Lord Dunmore, royal governor of Virginia, set fire to Nor-
folk, the chief city of Virginia. The fire raged for three days and reduced the
place to ashes. These acts are charged against the king in the Declaration
of Independence : " He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our
towns, and destroyed the lives of our people."

2 This is made a charge against the king in the Declaration : " He has
abdicated government here by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war
against us. " And again, ' ' For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world. "

THE FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE BEGUN 163

to hire troops from Russia and Holland. Both refused, where-
upon he turned to some petty German states and hired many
thousand soldiers who in our country were
called Hessians. 1

Canada Invaded. — Now that the war
was really under way, Congress turned its
attention to Canada. It was feared that
the British governor there might take
Ticonderoga, enter New York, and perhaps
induce the Indians to harry the New Eng-
land frontier as they did in the old French
wars. In the summer of 1775, therefore,
two expeditions were sent aorainst Canada.

-^ ° Now in Essex Hall, Salem.

One under Richard Montgomery went down
Lake Champlain from Ticonderoga and captured Montreal.
Another under Benedict Arnold sailed from Massachusetts to
the mouth of the Kennebec River, and forced its way through
the dense woods of Maine to Quebec. There Montgomery
joined Arnold, and on the night of December 31, 1775, the
American army in a blinding snowstorm assaulted the town.
Montgomery fell dead while leading the attack on one side of
Quebec, Arnold was wounded during the attack on the other side,
and Morgan, who took Arnold's place and led his men far into
the town, was cut off and captured. Though the attack on
Quebec failed, the Americans besieged the place till spring,
when they were forced to leave Canada and find shelter at
Crown Point.

Boston Evacuated. — During the winter of 1775-76, some
heavy guns were dragged over the snow on sledges from Ticon-

1 The Duke of Brunswick, the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, and four other
princes furnished the men. Their generals were Riedesel (ree'de-zel) , Knyp-
hausen (knip'hou-zen), Von Heister, and Donop. The employment of these
troops furnishes another charge against the king in the Declaration : "He is, at
this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works
of death, desolation, and tyranny." Thg first detachment of German troops
landed on Staten Island in New York Bay on August 15, 1776. Before the
war ended, the six petty German princes furnished 29,867, of whom 12,550 never
returned. Some 5000 of these deserted.

164

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

One of the guns taken from Ticonderoga
to Boston.

deroga to Boston. A captured British vessel provided powder,
and in March, 1776, Washington seized Dorchester Heights,
fortified them, and by so doing forced Howe, who had suc-
ceeded Gage in command, to
evacuate Boston, March 17.

Whigs and Tories. — Dur-
ing the excitement over the
Stamp Act, the Townshend
Acts, and the tea tax, "the
people were divided into
three parties. Those who re-
sisted and finally rebelled
were called Whigs, or Patri-
ots, or "Sons of Liberty."

Now at Cambridge. j.^^^^ ^^^^ SUppOrtcd king

and Parliament were called Tories or Loyalists. ^ Between
these two extremes were the great mass of the population who
cared little which way the struggle ended. In New York,
Pennsylvania, and the Carolinas the Tories were numerous and
active, and when the war opened, they raised regiments and
fought for the king.

Fighting in the Carolinas. — In January, 1776, Sir Henry
Clinton sailed from Boston to attack North Carolina, and a
force of sixteen hundred Tories marched toward the coast
to aid. But North Carolina had its minutemen as well as
Massachusetts. A body of them under Colonel Caswell met
and beat the Tories at Moores Creek (February 27) and so
large a force of patriots had assembled when Clinton arrived
that he did not make the attack.

1 Before fighting began, the Tories were denounced and held up as
enemies to their country ; later their leaders were mobbed, and if they held
office, were forced to resign. After the battle of Bunker Hill, laws of great
severity were enacted against them. They were disarmed, forced to take an
oath of allegiance, proclaimed traitors, driven into exile, and their estates and
property were confiscated. At the close of the war, fearing the anger of the
Whigs, thousands of Tories fled from our country to Jamaica, Bermuda, Halifax
in Nova Scotia, and Canada. Some 30,000 went from New York city in 1782-83,
and upward of 60,000 left our country during and after the war.

THE FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE BEGUN 165

The next attempt was against South Carolina. Late in
June, Clinton with his fleet appeared before Charleston, and
while the fleet opened fire on Fort Moultrie (m5l'try) from
the water, Clinton marched to attack it by land. But the land
attack failed, the fleet was badly damaged by shot from the
fort, and the expedition sailed away to New York.^

Independence Necessary. — Prior to 1776 many of the colonies
denied any desire for independence,^ but the events of this year
caused a change. After the battle of Moores Creek, North
Carolina bade her delegates in Congress vote for independence.
Virginia, in May, ordered her delegates to propose that the
United Colonies be declared free and independent. South
Carolina and Georgia instructed their delegates to assent to
any measure for the good of America. Ehode Island dropped
the king's name from state documents and sheriffs' writs, and
town after town in Massachusetts voted to uphold Congress in
a declaration of independence.

Thus encouraged, Congress, in May, resolved that royal
authority must be suppressed, and advised all the colonies to
establish independent governments. Some had already done
so; the rest one by one framed written constitutions of govern-
ment, and became states.^

1 While the battle was hottest, a shot carried away the flagstaff of Fort
Moultrie. The staff and flag fell outside the fort. Instantly Sergeant William
Jasper leaped down, fastened the flag to the ramrod of a cannon, climbed back,
and planted this new staff firmly on the fort. A fine monument now com-
memorates his bravery,

2 However, many leaders in New England, as Samuel Adams, John Adams,
and Elbridge Gerry ; in Pennsylvania, as Benjamin Rush and Benjamin Franklin ;
in Delaware, as Thomas McKean ; as Chase of Maryland ; Lee, Henry, Jefferson,
Washington, of Virginia ; and Gadsden of South Carolina, favored independence.
In this state of affairs Thomas Paine, in January, 1776, wrote a pamphlet called
Common Sense, in which independence was strongly urged. The effect was
wonderful. Edition after edition was printed in many places. " Common
Sense,^^ says one writer, "is read to all ranks; and as many as read, so many
become converted."

8 Rhode Island and Connecticut did not abandon their charters, for in these
colonies the people had always elected their governors and had always been
practically independent of the king. Connecticut did not make a constitution
till 1818, and Rhode Island not till 1842.

166

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Independence Declared. — To pretend allegiance to the king
any longer was a farce. Congress, therefore, appointed Thomas
Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman,
and Robert R. Livingston to write a declaration of independ-
ence, and on July 2, 1776, resolved: " That these United
Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent

States, that they are ab-
solved from all allegiance
to the British Crown, and
that all political connec-
tion between them and
the state of Great Britain
is, and ought to be, totally
dissolved. "1 This is the
Declaration of Independ-
ence. The document we
call the Declaration con-
tains the reasons why in-
dependence was declared.
It was written by Jef-
ferson, and after some
changes by Congress was
adopted on July 4, 17 76,^
and copies were ordered
to be sent to the states.

The Committee on Declaration of Independence.

From an old print.

1 This resolution had been introduced in Congress, in June, by Richard Henry-
Lee of Virginia. For a fine description of the debate on independence read
Webster's Oration on Adams and Jefferson. Why did John Dickinson oppose
a declaration of independence? Read Fiske's American Bevolution, Vol. I,
pp. 190-192.

2 A few copies signed by Hancock, president of Congress, and Thomson,
the secretary, were made public on July 5 ; and on July 8 one of these was read
to a crowd of people in the Statehouse yard at Philadelphia. The common
idea that the Declaration was signed at one time is erroneous. The signing did
not begin till August 2. Of those who signed then and afterward, seven were
not members of Congress on July 4, 1776. Of those signers who were members
on July 4, it is known that five were absent on that day. Seven men who were
members of Congress on July 4 were not members on August 2, and never
signed.

THE FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE BEGUN 167

SUMMARY

1. Governor Gage, hearing that the people of Massachusetts were gather-
ing military stores, sent troops to destroy the stores.

2. The battles at Lexington and Concord followed, and Boston was
besieged.

3. The militia from the neighboring colonies gathered about Boston.
They were formed into a Continental army by Congress, and Washington
was appointed commander in chief.

4. The battle of Bunker Hill, meantime, took place (June, 1775).

5. King George III now declared the colonists rebels, shut their ports,
and sent troops from Germany to subdue them.

6. An expedition of the patriots for the conquest of Canada failed
(1775-76).

7. But the British were forced to leave Boston (March, 1776).

8. British attacks on North Carolina and South Carolina came to
naught.

9. July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

CHAPTER XIV
THE WAR IN THE MIDDLE STATES AND ON THE SEA

Battle "of Long Island. — When Howe sailed from Boston
(in March, 1776), he went to Halifax in Nova Scotia. But
Washington was sure New York would be attacked, so he moved
the Continental army to that city and took position on the hills
back of Brooklyn on Long Island.

He was not mistaken, for to New York harbor in June came
General Howe, and in July Clinton from his defeat at Charleston,
and Admiral Howe ^ with troops from England. Thus reen-
forced. General Howe landed on Long Island in August, and
drove the Americans from their outposts, back to Brooklyn. ^
Washington now expected an assault, but Howe remembered
Bunker Hill and made ready to besiege the Americans, where-
upon two nights after the battle Washington crossed with the
army to Manhattan Island:^

1 Admiral Howe now wrote to Washington, offering pardon to all persons who
should desist from rebellion ; he addressed the letter to " George Washington,
Esq.," and sent it under flag of truce. The messenger was told there was no one
in the army with that title. A week later another messenger came with a paper
addressed " George Washington, Esq. etc. etc." This time he was received ;
and when Washington declined to receive the letter, explained that " etc. etc,"
meant everything. " Indeed," said Wasliington, " they might mean anything."
He was determined that Howe should recognize him as commander ih chief of
the Continental army, and not treat him as the leader of rebels.

2 Many of the prisoners taken in this and other battles were put on board
ships ancliored near Brooklyn. Their sufferings in these "Jersey prison ships "
were terrible, and many died and were buried on the beach. From these rude
graves their bones from time to time were washed out. At last in 1808 they
were taken up and decently buried near the Brooklyn navy yard, and in 1873
were put in a vault in Washington Park, Brooklyn.

3 While Washington was near New York, a young man named Nathan Hale
volunteered to enter the British lines on Long Island to procure information
greatly needed. As he was returning he was recognized by a Tory kinsman, was
captured, tried as a spy, and hanged. His last words were: " I regret that I
have but one life to lose for my country."

MCM. BRIEF 11 169

170

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Washington's Retreat. — Washington left a strong force
under Putnam in the heart of New York city, and stationed his

main army along Harlem
Heights. Howe crossed
to Manhattan and landed
behind Putnam,^ who was
thus forced to leave his
guns and tents, and flee to
Harlem Heights, where
Howe attacked Washing-
ton the next day and was
repulsed.

So matters stood for
nearly a month, when
Howe attempted to go
around the east end of
Washington's line, and
thus forced him to retreat
to White Plains. Bafiled
in an attack at this
place, Howe went back
to New York and carried Fort Washington by storm, taking
many prisoners.

Washington meantime had crossed the Hudson to New
Jersey, leaving General Charles Lee with seven thousand men
in New York state. He now ordered Lee to join him ^ ; but
Lee disobeyed, and Washington, closely pursued by the British,
retreated across New Jersey.

1 When Howe, marching across Manhattan Island, reached Murray Hill,
Mrs. Lindley Murray sent a servant to invite him to luncheon. The army
was halted, and Mrs. Murray entertained Howe and his officers for two hours.
It was this delay that enabled Putnam to escape.

2 Charles Lee was in general command at Charleston during the attack
on Fort Moultrie, and when he joined Washington at New York, was thought
a great officer. Lee was jealous, hoped to be made commander in chief,
and purposely left Washington to his fate. Later Lee crossed to New Jer-
sey and took up his quarters at Basking Ridge, not far from Morristown,
where the British captured him (December 13, 1776).

Battle of Harlem Heights.

Tablet on a Columbia College building, New York city

THE WAR IN THE MIDDLE STATES

171

The Victory at Trenton, December 26, 1776. — On the Penn-
sylvania side of the Delaware River, Washington turned at bay,
and having at last received some reenforcements, he recrossed
the Delaware on Christmas night in a blinding snowstorm,
marched nine miles to Trenton, surprised a body of Hessians,
captured a thousand prisoners, and went back to Pennsylvania.

Washington now proposed to follow up this victory with
other attacks. But a new difficulty arose, for the time of
service of many of the Eastern troops would expire on January 1.
These men were therefore asked to serve six weeks longer, and
were offered a bounty of ten dollars a man.

Robert Morris sends Money. — Many agreed to serve, but the
paymaster had no money.
Washington therefore
pledged his own fortune,
and appealed to Robert
Morris at Philadelphia. ^
"If it be possible. Sir," he
wrote, "to give us assist-
ance, do it ; borrow money
while it can be done, we are
doing it upon our private
credit." Morris responded
at once, and on New Year's
morning, 1777, went from
house to house, roused his friends from their beds to borrow
money from them, and early in the day sent fifty thousand
dollars.

Morris's strong box.

Now in the possession of the Pennsylvania Histor-
ical Society.

1 Robert Morris was bom at Liverpool, England, but came to Philadelphia
as a lad and entered on a business career, and when the Revolution opened, was
a man of means and influence. He signed the non-importation agreement of
1765, and signed the Declaration of Independence, and at this time (December,
1776) was a leading member of Congress. A year later, when the army was
at Valley Forge, he sent it as a gift a large quantity of food and clothing. In
1781 Morris was made Superintendent of Finance, and in order to supply
the army in the movement against Yorlctown, lent his notes to the amount of
$1,400,000. In 1781 he founded the Bank of North America, which is now the
oldest bank in our country. After the war Morris was a senator from Penn-

172 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777. — Washington crossed
again to Trenton, whereupon Lord Cornwallis hurried up with
a British army, and shut in the Americans between his forces
and the Delaware. But Washington slipped out, went around
Cornwallis, and the next morning attacked three British regi-
ments at Princeton and beat them. He then took possession of
the hills at Morristown, where he spent the rest of the winter.
The Attempt to cut off New England. — The British plan for
the campaign of 1777 was to seize Lake Champlain and the
Hudson River and so cut off New England from the Middle
States. To carry out this plan, (1) General Burgoyne was to
come down from Canada, (2) Howe was to go up the Hudson
from New York and join Burgoyne at Albany, and (3) St. Leger
was to go from Lake Ontario down the Mohawk to Albany. ^

Oriskany. — Hearing of the approach of St. Leger, General
Herkimer of the New York militia gathered eight hundred men
and hurried to the relief of Fort Stanwix. Near Oriskany,
about six miles from the fort, he fell into an ambuscade of
British and Indians, and a fierce hand-to-hand fight ensued,

till the Indians fled and the
British, forced to follow, left the
Americans in possession of the
field, too weak to pursue.

Just at this time the garrison

of the fort made a sortie against

part of the British army, cap-

•tured their camp, and carried a

quantity of supplies and their

The first national flag. flags ^ back to the fort.

sylvania. He speculated largely in Western lands, lost his fortune, and from
1798 to 1802 was a prisoner for debt. He died in 1806.

1 Read the story of Jane McCrea in Fiske's Amencan Bevolutiony Vol. I,
pp. 277-279.

2 These flags were hoisted on the fort and over them was raised the first flag
of stars and stripes ever flung to the breeze. Congress on June 14, 1777, had
adopted our national flag. The flag at Fort Stanwix was made of pieces of
a white shirt, a blue jacket, and strips of red flannel. The day was August 6.

THE WAR IN THE MIDDLE STATES

173

When news of Oriskany reached Schuyler, the patriot
general commanding in the north, he called for a volunteer to
lead a force to relieve Fort Stanwix. Arnold responded, and
with twelve hundred men hurried westward, and by a clever
ruse^ forced St. Leger to raise the siege and flee to Montreal.

* k

^^B* 9h^' ^3

_ 'k'l^^JI

^^^^^^^^Bk ''

<»._

■\ r^*-'^^

l^^p

■B

'0^B^^

^^^K^^

Battle of Bennington. From an old print.

Bennington. — Burgoyne set out in June, captured Ticon-
deroga, and advanced to the upper Hudson. As he came south-
ward, the sturdy farmers of Vermont and New York began to
gather on his flank, and collected at Bennington many horses
and large stores of food and ammunition. As Burgoyne needed

1 The story runs that several Tory spies were captured and condemned to
death, but one named Cuyler was spared by Arnold on condition that he
should go to the camp of St. Leger and say that Burgoyne was captured and
a great American army was coming to relieve Fort Stanwix. Cuyler agreed,
and having cut what seemed bullet holes in his clothes, rushed into the British
camp, crying out that a large American army was at hand, and that he had
barely escaped with life. The Indians at once began to desert, the panic spread
to the British, and the next day St. Leger was fleeing toward Lake Ontario.

174 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

horses, he sent a force of Hessians to attack Bennington. But
Stark, with his Green Mountain Boys and New Hampshire
militia, met the Hessians six miles from town, surrounded them
on all sides, beat them, and took seven hundred prisoners and
quantities of guns and some cannon (August 16).

Saratoga. — These defeats were serious blows to Burgoyne,
around whose army the Americans had been gathering. He
decided, however, to fight, crossed the Hudson, and about the
middle of September attacked the Americans at Bemis Heights,
and again on the same ground early in October. ^ He was
beaten in both battles and on October 17 was forced to sur-
render at Saratoga.

Battle of Brandywine. — What, meantime, had Howe been
doing ? He should have pushed up the Hudson to join Bur-
goyne. But he decided to capture Philadelphia before going
north, and having put his army on board a fleet, he started for
that city by sea. Not venturing to enter the Delaware, he
sailed up Chesapeake Bay and two weeks after landing found
Washington awaiting him on Brandywine Creek, where (Sep-
tember 11, 1777) a battle was fought and won by the British.
Among the wounded was Marquis de Lafayette,^ who earlier in
the year had come from France to offer his services to Congress.

Philadelphia Occupied. — Two weeks later Howe entered
Philadelphia in triumph.^ Congress had fled to Lancaster, and

1 The second battle is often called the battle of Stillwater. Shortly before
this Congress removed Schuyler from command and gave it to Gates, who thus
reaped the glory of the whole campaign. In both battles Arnold greatly distin-
guished himself. He won the first fight and was wounded in the second.

2 Lafayette was a young French nobleman who, fired by accounts of the war
in America, fitted out a vessel, and despite the orders of the French king escaped
and came to Philadelphia, and offered his services to Congress. With him were
De Kalb and eleven other officers. Two gallant Polish officers, Pulaski and
Kosciusko, had come over before this time. Kosciusko had been recommended
to Washington by Franklin, then in France ; he was made a colonel in the
engineer corps and superintended the building of the American fortifications
at Bemis Heights. After the war he returned to Poland, and long afterward led
the Poles in their struggle for liberty.

8 An interesting novel on this period of the war is Dr. S. W. Mitchell's Hugh
Wynne.

THE WAR IN THE MIDDLE STATES

175

later went to York, Pennsylvania. Washington now attacked
Howe at Germantown (just north of Philadelphia), but was

"-\

'■^"T'T-'fg^;

Drawn by Darley.

At Valley Forge.

defeated and went into winter quarters at Valley Forge, where

the patriots suffered greatly from cold and hunger.^

Result of the Campaign. — The year's campaign was far

from a failure.^ The surprise at Trenton and the victory at

Princeton showed that Washington was a general of the first

rank. The defeats at Brandywine and Germantown did not

dishearten the army. The victory at Saratoga was one of the

decisive campaigns of the world's history; for it ruined the

plans of the British ^ and secured us the aid of France.

1 At Valley Eorge Baron Steuben joined the army. He was an able German
officer who had seen service under Frederick the Great of Prussia, and had
been persuaded by the French Minister of Foreign Affairs to come to America
and help to organize and discipline the army. He landed in New Hampshire
late in 1777, and spent the dreadful winter at Valley Forge in drilling the troops,
teaching them the use of the bayonet, and organizing the army on the Eu-
ropean plan. After the war New York presented Steuben with a farm of
16,000 acres not far from Fort Stanwix. There he died in 1794.

2 Certain officers and members of Congress plotted during 1777 to have
Washington removed from the command of the army. For an account of this
Conway Cabal read Fiske's American Bevolution, Vol. II, pp. 34-43.

3 Great Britain now sent over commissioners to offer liberal terms of peace,
— no taxes by Parliament, no restrictions on trade, no troops in America with-

176

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Help from France, 1778.-111 1776 Congress commissioned
Benjamin Franklin, Arthur Lee, and Silas Deane to go to France
and seek her help. France, smarting under the loss of Louisi-
ana and Canada (1763), would gladly have helped us ; but not
till the victories at Trenton, Princeton, Oriskany, and Saratoga
could she feel sure of the ability of the Americans to fight.
Then the French king recognized our independence, and in
February, 1778, made with us a treaty of alliance and went to
war with Great Britain.

The effect of the French alliance was immediate. France
began to fit out a fleet and army to help us. Hearing of this,
Clinton, who had succeeded Howe in command at Philadelphia,
left that city with his army and started for New York.

Monmouth, June 28, 1778. — Washington decided to pursue,
and as Clinton, hampered by an immense train of baggage,

moved slowly across New
Jersey, he was overtaken
by the Americans at Mon-
mouth. Charles Lee^ was
to begin the attack, and
Washington, coming up a
little later, was to complete
the defeat of the enemy.
But Lee was a traitor, and
having attacked the Brit-
ish, began a retreat which
would have lost the day
had not Washington come
up just in time to lead a

out consent of the colonial assemblies, even representation in Parliament, — but
the offer was rejected. Why did the commissioners fail ? Read Fiske's Ameri-
can Bevolution, Vol. II, pp. 4-17, 22-24.

1 Lee had been exchanged for a captured British general, and came to
Valley Forge in May. From papers found after his death we know that while a
prisoner he advised Howe as to the best means of conquering the states. For
his conduct in the battle and insolence to Washington after it, Lee was sus-
pended from the army for one year, but when he wrote an insolent letter to
Congress, he was dismissed from tlie army.

I^^K^BrJ^tt^^^

m "!

HwjVJI^*^!^

'fU

m-'.

■

JjM

Church near Monmouth battlefield, built
in 1752.

THE WAR ON THE SEA 177

new attack. The battle raged till nightfall, and in the dark-
ness Clinton slipped away and went on to New York.

Washington now crossed the Hudson, encamped at White
Plains, and during three years remained in that neighborhood,
constantly threatening the British in New York.^

Beginning of the Navy. — More than three years had now
passed since the fight at Lexington, and here let us stop and
review what the Americans had been doing at sea. At the
outset, the colonists had no warships at all. Congress there-
fore (in December, 1775) ordered thirteen armed vessels to be
built at once, bought merchant ships to serve as cruisers, and
thus created a navy of thirty vessels before the 4th of July,
1776.2

Eight of the cruisers were quickly assembled at Philadel-
phia, and early in January, 1776, Esek Hopkins, commander
in chief, stepped on board of one of them and took command.
As he did so. Lieutenant John Paul Jones hoisted a yellow
silk flag on which was the device of a pine tree and a coiled
rattlesnake and the motto "Don't tread on me." This was the
first flag ever displayed on an American man-of-war. Ice
delayed the departure of the squadron; but in February it
put to sea, went to the Bahama Islands, captured the forts on
the island of New Providence, and carried off a quantity of
powder and cannon.

Captain Barry. — Soon afterward another cruiser, the six-

1 A French fleet of twelve ships, under Count d'Estaing, soon arrived near
New York. It might perhaps have captured the British fleet in the harbor ; but
without making the attempt D'Estaing went on to Newport to attempt the cap-
ture of a British force which had held that place since December, 1776. Wash-
ington sent Greene and Lafayette with troops to assist him, the New England
militia turned out by thousands, and all seemed ready for the attack, when a
British fleet appeared and D'Estaing went out to meet it. A storm scattered
the vessels of the two squadrons, and D'Estaing went to Boston for repairs, and
then to the West Indies.

2 Six of the thirty never got to sea, but were captured or destroyed when the
British took New York and Philadelphia. Our navy, therefore, may be con-
sidered at the outset to have consisted of 24 vessels, mounting 422 guns. Great
Britain at that time had 112 war vessels, carrying 3714 guns, and 78 of these
vessels were stationed on or near our coast.

178 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

teen-gun brig Lexington^ Captain John Barry,^ fell in with a
British armed vessel oft' the coast of Virginia, and after a sharp
engagement captured her. She was the first, prize brought in
by a commissioned officer of the American navy.

The Cruisers in Europe. — In 1777 the cruisers carried the
war into British ports and waters, across the Atlantic. The
Reprisal (which had carried Franklin to France), under Cap-
tain Wilkes, in company with two other vessels, sailed twice
around Ireland, made fifteen prizes, and alarmed the whole
coast. 2 Another cruiser, the Revenge^ scoured British waters,
and when in need of repairs boldly entered a British port in
disguise and refitted.

In 1778 John Paul Jones,^ in the Ranger^ sailed to the Irish
Channel, destroyed four vessels, set fire to the shipping in a

1 John Barry was a native of Ireland. He came to America at thirteen, and
at twenty-five was captain of a ship. At the opening of the war he offered his
services to Congress, and in February, 1776, was given command of the
Lexington. After his victory Barry was transferred to the 28-gun frigate
Effingham, and in 1777 (while blockaded in the Delaware), with 27 men in
four boats captured and destroyed a 10-gun schooner and four transports. For
this he was thanked by Washington. When the British captured Philadelphia,
Barry took the Effingham up the river to save her ; but she was burned by
the British. At different times Barry commanded several other ships, and in
1782, in the Alliance, fought the last action of the war. In 1794 he was senior
captain of the navy, with the title of commodore. He died in 1803.

2 When these ships returned to France with the prizes, the British govern-
ment protested so vigorously that the Beprisal and the Lexington were seized
and held till security was given that they would leave France. The prizes were
ordered out of port, were taken into the ofl&ng, and then quietly sold to French
merchants. The Beprisal on her way home was lost at sea. The Lexington
was captured and her men thrown into prison. They escaped by digging a hole
under the wall, and were on board a vessel in London bound for France, when
they were discovered and sent back to prison. A year later one of them,
Richard Dale, escaped by walking past the guards in daylight, dressed in a
British uniform. He never would tell how he got the uniform.

8 John Paul, Jr., was born in Scotland in 1747. He began a seafaring life
when twelve years old and followed it till 1773, when he fell heir to a planta-
tion in Virginia on condition that he should take the name of Jones. There-
after he was known as John Paul Jones. In 1775 Jones offered his services to
Congress, assisted in founding our navy, and in December, 1775, was commis-
sioned lieutenant. He died in Paris in 1792, but the whereabouts of his grave
was long unknown. In 1905, however, the United States ambassador to
France (Horace Porter) discovered the body of Jones, which was brought

THE WAR ON THE SEA

British port, fought and captured a British armed schooner,
sailed around Ireland with her, and reached France in safety.

The next year (1779) Jones, in the Bonhomme Richard
(bo-nom' re-shar'), fell in with the British frigate Serapis off
the east coast of Great Britain, and
on a moonlight night fought one of
the most desperate battles in naval
history and won it.

The Frigates. — Of the thirteen
frigates ordered by Congress in 1775,
only four remained by the end of
1778. Some were captured at sea,
some were destroyed to prevent
their falling into British hands,
and one blew up while gallantly
fighting. Of the cruisers bought
in 1775, only one remained. Other
purchases at home and abroad were
made, but three frigates were cap-
tured and destroyed at Charleston
in 1779, and by the end of the
year our navy was reduced to six
vessels. During the war 24 vessels
of the navy were lost by capture,
wreck, or destruction. The British navy lost 102.

The Privateers. — So far we have considered only the Amer-
ican navy — the warships owned by the government. Congress
also (March, 1776) issued letters of marque, or licenses to
citizens to fit out armed vessels and make war on British ships
armed or unarmed ; and the sea soon swarmed with privateers

Gold medal given to Jones.l

with due honors to the United States and deposited at the Naval Academy at
Annapolis. Porter's account of how the body was found may be read in the
Century Magazine for October, 1905. Jones is the hero of Cooper's novel
called The Pilot.

^The wording on the medal may be translated as follows : " The American
Congress to John PaulJones, fleet commander — for the capture or defeat of
the enemy's ships off the coast of Scotland, Sept. 23, 1779."

180 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

fitted out, not only by citizens but also by the states. The
privateers were active throughout the war, and took hundreds
of prizes.

SUMMARY

1. After the British left Boston, Washington moved his army to Long
Island, where he was attacked by the British and driven up the Hudson to
White Plains.

2. Later in the year (1776), Washington crossed the Hudson and re-
treated through New Jersey to Pennsylvania ; then he turned about, won the
battles of Trenton (December 26, 1776) and Princeton (January 3, 1777),
and spent the rest of the winter in New Jersey.

3. The British plan for the campaign of 1777 was to cut off New
England from the Middle States ; Burgoyne was to come down from Canada
and meet Howe, who was to move up the Hudson.

4. Burgoyne lost several battles, and was forced to surrender at Sara-
toga (October 17, 1777).

5. Howe put off going up the Hudson till too late ; instead, he de-
feated Washington at Brandywine Creek (September 11, 1777), and cap-
tured Philadelphia. Washington then attacked Howe at Germantown, was
defeated, and spent the winter at Valley Forge.

6. After Burgoyne^s surrender, France recognized our independence
(February, 1778) and joined us in the war.

7. Fearing a French attack on New York, the British left Philadelphia
(June, 1778); Washington followed and fought the battle of Monmouth;
but the British went on to New York, and for three years Washington re-
mained near that city.

8. Congress, in December, 1775, created a little navy; but some of
these ves^ls never got to sea ; others under Hopkins and Barry won vic-
tories during 1776.

9. In 1777 the cruisers were sent to British waters and under Wilkes
and others harried British coasts.

10. In 1778 Paul Jones sailed around Ireland and in 1779 he won his
great victory in the Bonhomme Richard.

CHAPTER XV
THE WAR IN THE WEST AND IN THE SOUTH

The West. — After Great Britain obtained from France
the country between the mountains and the Mississippi, the
British king, as we have seen (p. 143), forbade settlement west
of the mountains. But the westward movement of population
was not to be stopped by a proclamation. The hardy frontiers-

The West during the Revolution.

men gave it no heed, and, passing over the mountains of
Virginia and North Carolina, they hunted, trapped, and made
settlements in the forbidden land.

Tennessee. — Thus, in 1769, William Bean of North Caro-
lina built a cabin on the banks of the Watauga Creek and

181

182

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

began the settlement of what is now Tennessee. The next
year James Robertson and many others followed and dotted
the valleys of the Holston and the Clinch with clearings and
log cabins. These men at first were without government of
any sort, so they formed an association and for some years

governed themselves; but in
1776 their delegates were
seated in the legislature of
North Carolina, and next year
their settlements were organ-
ized as Washington county in
that state. Robertson soon
(1779) led a colony further
west and on the banks of the
Cumberland founded Nash-
boro, now called Nashville.

Kentucky. — The year
(1769) that Bean went into
Tennessee, Daniel Boone, one
of the great men of frontier
history, entered what is now
Kentucky. Others followed,
and despite Indian wars and
massacres, Boonesboro, Har-
rodsburg, and Lexington were
founded before 1777. These

Indian attacking a frontiersman.

backwoodsmen also were for a time without any government;
but in December, 1776, Virginia organized the region as a
county with the present boundaries of Kentucky. ^

George Rogers Clark. — In the country north of the Ohio
were a few old French towns, — Detroit, Kaskaskia, Vincennes,
— and a few forts built by the French and garrisoned by the

1 About this time the settlers on the upper Ohio River (in what is now
West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania) became eager for statehood.
Both Virginia and Pennsylvania claimed their allegiance. They asked Con-
gress, therefore, for recognition as the state of Westsylvania, the fourteenth
province of the American Confederacy. Congress did not grant their prayer.

THE WAR IN THE WEST 183

British, from whom the Indians obtained guns and powder
to attack the frontier. Against these forts and villages
George Rogers Clark, a young Virginian, planned an expedi-
tion which was approved by Patrick Henry, then governor of
Virginia. Henry could give him little aid, but Clark was
determined to go ; and in 1778, with one hundred and eighty
men, left Pittsburg in boats, floated down the Ohio to its mouth,
marched across the swamps and prairies of south-western
Illinois, and took Kaskaskia.

Vincennes^ thereupon surrendered ; but was soon recaptured
by the British general at Detroit with a band of Indians. But
Clark, after a dreadful march across country in midwinter,
attacked the fort in the dead of night, captured it, and then
conquered the country near the Wabash and Illinois rivers, and
held it for Virginia. ^

Spain in the West. — The conc^uest was most timely ; for
in 1779 Spain joined in the war against Great Britain, seized
towns and British forts in Florida, and in January, 1781, sent
out from St. Louis a band of Spaniards and Indians who
marched across Illinois and took possession of Fort St. Joseph
in what is now southwestern Michigan, occupied it, and
claimed the Northwest for Spain.

The South Invaded. — Near the end of 1778, the British
armies held strong positions at New York and Newport, and
the French fleet under D'Estaing was in the West Indies.
The British therefore felt free to strike a blow at the South.
A fleet and army accordingly sailed from New York and

1 Read Thompson's Alice of Old Vincennes.

2 Farther east, meantime, a band of savages led by Colonel John Butler
swept down from Fort Niagara, entered Wyoming Valley in northeastern Penn-
sylvania, near the site of Wilkes-Barre, and perpetrated one of the most awful
massacres in history (July 4, 1778). (Read Campbell's poem Gertrude of Wyo-
ming). A little later another band, led by a son of Butler, burned the village
of Cherry Valley in New York, and murdered many of the inhabitants— men,
women, and children. Cruelties of this sort could not go unpunished. In the
summer of 1779, therefore. General Sullivan with an army invaded the Indian
country in central New York, burned forty Indian villages, destroyed their crops,
cut down their fruit trees, and brought the Indians to the verge of famine.

Longitude 82

West

Greenwich 76

184

THE WAR IN THE SOUTH 185

(December 29, 1778) captured Savannah. Georgia was then
overrun, was declared conquered, and the royal governor was
reestablished in office.^

The Americans Repulsed at Savannah. — Governor Rutledge
of South Carolina now appealed to D'Estaing, who at once
brought his fleet from the West Indies ; and Savannah was
besieged by the American forces under Lincoln and the French
under D'Estaing. After a long siege, an assault was made on
the British defenses (October, 1779), in which the brave
Pulaski was slain and D'Estaing was wounded. The French
then sailed away, and Lincoln fell back into South Carolina.

British capture Charleston. — Hearing of this. Sir Henry
Clinton and Lord Cornwallis sailed with British troops from
New York (December, 1779) to Savannah. Thence the British
marched overland to Charleston. Lincoln did all he could to
defend the city, but in May, 1780, was compelled to surrender.
South Carolina was then overrun by the British, and Clinton
returned to New York, leaving Cornwallis in command.

Partisan Leaders. — South Carolina now became the seat
of a bitter partisan war. The Tories there clamored for re-
venge. That no man should be neutral, Cornwallis ordered
every one to declare for or against the king, and sent officers
with troops about the state to enroll the royalists in the militia.
The whole population was thus arrayed in two hostile parties.
The patriots could not offer organized opposition; but little
bands of them found refuge in the woods, swamps, and moun-
tain valleys, whence they issued to attack the British troops
and the Tories. Led by Andrew Pickens, Thomas Sumter,
and Francis Marion whom the British called the Swamp Fox,
they won many desperate fights. ^

1 Congress now put Lincoln in command in the South ; but when he marched
into Georgia, the British set off to attack Charleston, sacking houses and
slaughtering cattle as they went. This move forced Lincoln to follow them,
and having been joined by Pulaski, he compelled the British to retreat.

2 Four novels by Simms, — The Partisan^ MeUichampe, Katharine Walton,
and The Scout, — and Horseshoe Bohinson, by Kennedy, are famous stories
relating to the Revolution in the South. Read Bryant's Song of Marion'' 8 Men.

186

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Camden. — Congress, however, had not abandoned the South.
Two thousand men under De Kalb were inarching south before
the surrender of Charleston. After it, a call for troops was
made on all the states south of Pennsylvania, and General
Gates, then called " the Hero of Saratoga," was sent to join
De Kalb and take command. The most important point in
the interior of South Carolina. was Camden, and against this
Gates marched his troops. But he managed matters so badly
that near Camden the American army was beaten, routed,
and cut to pieces by the British under Cornwallis (August 16,

1780).!

The War in the North. — What
meantime had happened in the North?
The main armies near New York had
done little fighting ; but the British
had made a number of sudden raids
on the coast. In 1779 Norfolk and
Portsmouth in Virginia, and New
Haven and several other towns in
Connecticut had been attacked, and
ships and houses burned. In New
York, Clinton captured Stony Point ;
but Anthony Wayne led a force of
Americans against the fort, and at
dead of night, by one of the most
brilliant assaults in the world's military history, recaptured
it (July, 1779). 2

Wayne's camp kettle.

Now in the possession of the Penn-
sylvania Historical Society.

1 A large number of men were killed, and a thousand taken prisoners.
Among the dead was De Kalb. Among the living was Gates, who fled among
the first and made such haste to escape that he covered two hundred miles in
four days.

2 The purpose of the attack on Stony Point was to draw the British from
Connecticut. The capture had the desired result, and Stony Point was then
abandoned. The fort stood on a rocky promontory with the water of the Hudson
River on three sides. On the fourth was a morass crossed by a narrow road
which at high tide was under water. The country between the British forces in
New York and the American army on the highlands of the Hudson was known
as the neutral ground, and is the scene of Cooper's great novel The Spy.

THE WAR IN THE SOUTH

187

Treason of Arnold. — Stony Point was one of several forts
built by order of Washington to defend the Hudson. The
chief fort was at West Point, the command of which, in July,
1780, was given to Arnold. When the British left Philadel-
phia in 1778, Arnold was made military commander there, and
so conducted himself that he was sentenced by court-martial

At West Point: looking up the Hudson.

to be reprimanded by Washington. This censure, added to
previous unfair treatment by Congress, led him to seek revenge
in the ruin of his country. To bring this about he asked
for the command of West Point, and having received it, offered
to surrender the fort to the British.

Clinton's agent in the matter was Major John Andre
(anMra), who one day in September, 1780, came up the river
in the British ship Vulture^ went ashore, and at night met Arnold

MOM. BRIEF — 12

188 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

near Stony Point. Morning came before the terms ^ of surren-
der were arranged, and the Vulture having been fired on dropped
down the river out of range.

West Point Saved. — Thus left within the American lines,
Andre crossed the river to the east shore, and started for New
York by land, but was stopped by three Americans,^ searched,
and papers of great importance were found in his stockings.
Despite an offer of his watch and money for his release, Andre
was delivered to the nearest American o£&cer, was later tried by
court-martial, found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged as a spy.

The American officer to whom Andre was delivered, not
suspecting Arnold, sent the news to him as well as to Washing-
ton. Arnold received the message first ; knowing that Wash-
ington was at hand, he at once procured a boat, was rowed
down the river to the Vulture, and escaped. From then till
the end of the war he served as an officer in the British army.

The disasters at Charleston and Camden, and the narrow
escape from disaster at West Point, made 1780 the most dis-
heartening year of the war.

Kings Mountain. — But the tide quickly turned. After his
victory at Camden, Cornwallis began to invade North Carolina,
and sent Colonel Ferguson into the South Carolina highlands to
enlist all the Tories he could find. As Ferguson advanced into
the hill country, the backwoodsmen and mountaineers rallied
from all sides, and led by Sevier, Shelby, and Williams, sur-
rounded him and forced him to make a stand on the summit of
Kings Mountain, October 7, 1780. Fighting in true Indian
fashion from behind every tree and rock, they shot Ferguson's
army to pieces, killed him, and forced the few survivors to sur-
render. This victory forced Cornwallis to put off his conquest
of North Carolina.

1 The British were to come up the river and attack West Point. Arnold was
to man the defenses in such a way that they could easily be taken, one at a
time, and so afford an excuse for surrendering them, with the three thousand
men under Arnold's command.

2 The names of Andre's captors were John Paulding, David Williams, and
Isaac Van Wart. Congress gave each a medal and a pension for life.

THE WAR IN THE SOUTH

189

Cowpens. — General Greene was now sent to replace Gates
in command of the patriot army in the South. He was too
weak to attack Cornwallis, but by dividing his army and secur-
ing the aid of the partisan bands he hoped to annoy the British
with raids. Morgan, who commanded one of these divisions, was
so successful that Cornwallis sent Tarleton with a thousand men
against him. Morgan offered battle on the grounds known as
the Cowpens, and there Tarleton was routed and three fourths
of his men were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners.

Battle of the Cowpens.

The Great Retreat. — This victory won, Morgan set off to
join Greene, with Cornwallis himself in hot pursuit. When
Greene heard the news, he determined to draw the British
general far northward and then fight him wherever he would be
at most disadvantage. 1 The retreat of the American army
was therefore continued to the border of Virginia.

1 To accomplish this Greene sent the greater part of his army northward
under General Huger, while he with a small guard hurried across country, and
took command of Morgan's army. And now a most exciting chase began.

190

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Guilford Court House. — Having received reenforcements,
Greene turned southward and offered battle at Guilford Court

House (March 15, 1781).
A desperate fight ensued,
and when night came, Greene
retired, leaving the British
unable to follow him . Corn-
wallis had lost one quarter
of his army in killed and
wounded. He was in the
midst of a hostile country,
too weak to stay, and un-
willing to confess defeat by
retreating to South Caro-
lina. Thus outgeneraled
he hurried to Wilmington,
where he could be aided by
the British fleet.

Greene followed for a
time, and then turned into
South Carolina, drove the
British out of Camden, and
by the 4th of July had re-
conquered half of South
Carolina. Late in August,
he forced the British back to
Eutaw Springs, where (Sep-
tember 8, 1781) a desperate battle was fought. ^ The British
troops held their ground, but on the following night they set

Cornwallis destroyed his heavy baggage that he might move as rapidly as possible,
and vainly strove to get near enough to Greene to make him fight. Greene with
great skill kept just out of reach and for ten days lured the British farther and
farther north. At Guilford Court House Greene and Morgan were joined by the
main army. Cornwallis then proclaimed North Carolina conquered, and called
on all Loyalists to join him-.

1 Two good works relating to these events are The Forayers and Eutaw, by
Simms.

Lafayette monument, Washington, D. C.

THE WAR IN THE SOUTH 191

off for Charleston, where they remained until the end of the
war.i

Yorktown. — From Wilmington Cornwallis • marched to
southeastern Virginia, where a British force under Benedict
Arnold joined him. He then set off to capture Lafayette,
who had been sent to defend Virginia from Arnold. But
Lafayette retreated to the back country, till reenforcements
came. When Cornwallis could drive him no farther, the British
army retreated to the coast, and fortified itself at Yorktown.

In August Washington received word that a large French
fleet under De Grasse was about to sail from the West Indies
to Chesapeake Bay. He saw that the supreme moment had come.
Laying aside his plan for an attack on New York, he hurried
southward, marched his army to the head of Chesapeake Bay,
and then took it by ships to Yorktown. ^ The French fleet
was already in the bay. Some French troops had joined Lafay-
ette, and Cornwallis was already surrounded when Washington
arrived. The siege was now pressed with overwhelming force,
and Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781.

End of the War. — Swift couriers carried the news to
Philadelphia, where, at the dead of night, the people were
roused from sleep by the watchman crying in the street, " Past
two o'clock and Cornwallis is taken." In the morning
Congress received the dispatches and went in solemn procession
to a church to give thanks to God.

When the British prime minister. Lord North, heard the
news, he exclaimed, " All is over ; all is over ! " The king

1 Wliile these things were happening in the South, a French army of
6000 men under Rochambeau arrived at Newport (1780), from which the
British had withdrawn in 1779. There, for a while, the French fleet was
blockaded by the British, and tlie troops remained to aid the fleet in case of
necessity. The next year, however, this army marclied across Connecticut and
joined Washington's forces (July, 1781), and preparations were begun for an
attack on New York.

2 "When Clinton realized that Washington was on the way to Yorktown, he
sent Arnold on a raid into Connecticut, in hope of forcing Washington to
return. Early in September Arnold attacked New London, carried one of its
forts by storm, and set fire to the town, but was driven off by the minutemen.

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Washington's headquarters at Newburgh.

From an old print.

alone remained stubborn, and for a while insisted on holding
Georgia, Charleston, and New York. But his advisers in

time persuaded
him to yield, and
(November 30,
# 1782) a prelimi-

nary treaty, ac-
knowledging the
independence of
the United States,
was signed at
Paris. 1 The final
treaty was not
signed till Sep-
tember 3, 1783.2
In November the Continental army was disbanded, and in
December, at Annapolis, where Congress was sitting, Washing-
ton formally surrendered his command, and went home to
Mount Vernon. 3

1 Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin (our minister in France), John
Adams (in Holland), John Jay (in Spain), Thomas Jefferson, and Henry Laurens
to negotiate the treaty. Jefferson's appointment came too late for him to serve;
the other four signed the treaty of 1782, and Franklin, Adams, and Jay signed
the treaty of 1783.

2 After the surrender of CornwaUis, Washington returned with his army to
the Hudson and made his headquarters at Newburgh. In April, 1783, a cessa-
tion of war on land and sea was formally proclaimed, and the British prepared
to leave New York. Charleston and Savannah were evacuated in 1782, but No-
vember 25, 1783, came before the last British soldier left New York. When
the troops under Washington entered New York city, they found a British flag
nailed to the staff, the halyards gone, and the staff soaped. A sailor climbed the
pole by nailing on cleats, pulled down the British flag, and reeved new halyards.
The stars and stripes were then raised and saluted with thirteen guns.

8 Washington refused to be paid for his services. Actual expenses during
the war were all he would take, and these amounted to about $70,000.

SUMMARY

1. Despite the king's proclamation in 1763, frontiersmen soon crossed
the mountains and settled in what is now Kentucky and Tennessee.

2. In the region north of the Ohio were a few British forts, some of

THE WAR IN THE SOUTH 193

which George Rogers Clark captured in 1778 and 1779 ; but Fort St. Joseph
in Michigan was captured by the Spanish.

3. At the end of 1778 the British began an attack on the Southern
states by capturing Savannah.

4. Georgia was then overrun. The Americans, aided by a French
fleet, attacked Savannah and were repulsed (1779).

5. In 1780, reenforced by a fleet and army from New York, the British
captured Charleston and overran South Carolina. The Americans under
Gates were badly beaten at Camden ; but a British force was destroyed at
Kings Mountain.

6. In the same year Benediot Arnold turned traitor, and sought in vain
to deliver West Point to the British.

7. In the following year (1781) our arms were generally victorious.
Morgan won the battle of the Cowpens ; Greene outgeneraled Cornwallis
and then reconquered South Carolina. At the end of the year Charleston
and Savannah were the only Southern towns held by the British.

8. Cornwallis marched into Virginia, and fortified himself at York-
town. There Washington, aided by a French army and fleet, forced him
to surrender (1781).

9. Peace was made next year, our independence was acknowledged,
and by the end of 1783 the last British soldiers had left the country.

194

195

CHAPTER XVI
AFTER THE WAR

Our Boundaries. — By the treaty of 1783 our country was
bounded on the north by a line (very much as at present) from
the mouth of the St. Croix River in Maine to the Lake of the
Woods ; on the west by the Mississippi River ; and on the south
by the parallel of 31° north latitude from the Mississippi to the
Apalachicola, and then by the present south boundary of
Georgia to the sea.^

But our flag did not as yet wave over every part of the
country within these bounds. Great Britain, claiming that cer-
tain provisions in the treaty had been violated, held the forts
from Lake Champlain to Lake Michigan and would not with-
draw her troops.2 Spain, having received the Floridas back
from Great Britain by a treaty of 1783, held the forts at Mem-
phis, Baton Rouge, and Vicksburg, and much of what is now
Alabama and Mississippi.^

1 Both France and Spain had tried to shut us out of the Mississippi valley.
Read Fiske's Critical Period of American History, pp. 17-25.

2 By the treaty of 1783 Congress provided that all debts due British subjects
might be recovered by law, and that the states should be asked to pay for confis-
cated property of the Loyalists. But the states would not permit the recovery
of the debts nor pay for the property taken from the Loyalists. Great Britain,
by holding the forts along our northern frontier, controlled the fur trade and the
Indians, and ruled the country about the forts. These were Dutchman's Point,
Point au Fer, Oswegatchie, Oswego, Niagara, Erie, Detroit, Mackinaw.

3 To understand her conduct we must remember that in 1764, shortly after
the French and Indian War, Great Britain made 32° 28' north latitude (through
the mouth of the Yazoo, p. 143) the north boundary of West Florida; and
although Great Britain in her treaty with us made 31° the boundary be-
tween us and West Florida, Spain insisted that it should be 32° 28'. Spain's
claim to the Northwest, founded on her occupation of Fort St. Joseph (p. 183),
had not been allowed ; she was therefore the more determined to expand her
claims in the South.

196

AFTER THE WAR 197

A Central Government. — From 1775 to 1781 the states were
governed, so far as they had any general government, by the
Continental Congress. During these years there was no writ-
ten document fixing the powers of Congress and limiting the
powers of the states. While the war was going on, Congress
submitted a plan for a general government, called Articles of
Confederation and Perpetual Union; but nearly four years
passed before all the states accepted it. The delay was caused
by the refusal of Maryland to approve the Articles unless the
states having sea-to-sea charters would give to Congress, for
the public good, the lands they claimed beyond the mountains.^

Congress therefore appealed to the states to cede their
Western lands. If they would do this, Congress promised to
sell the lands, use the money to pay the debts of the United
States, and cut the region into states and admit them into the
Union at the proper time. New York, Connecticut, and Virginia
at last agreed to give up their lands northwest of the Ohio
River, and on March 1, 1781, the Maryland delegates signed
the Articles and by so doing put them in force. ^

The Articles of Confederation. — In the government set up
by the Articles of Confederation there was no President of the
United States, no Supreme Court, no Senate. Congress consisted
of a single body to which each state sent at least two delegates,
and might send any number up to seven. The members were
elected annually, were paid by the states they represented, could
not serve more than three years in six, and might be recalled at

1 The states claiming such lands by virtue of their colonial charters were
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia.
New York had acquired the Iroquois title to lands in the West. Her claim con-
flicted with those of Virginia, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. The claims of
Connecticut and Massachusetts covered lands included in the Virginia claim.
Maryland denied the validity of all these claims, for these reasons : (1) the
Mississippi valley belonged to France till 1763 ; (2) when France gave the valley
east of the Mississippi to Great Britain in 1763, it became crown land ; (3) in
1763 the king drew the line around the sources of the rivers flowing into the
Atlantic Ocean, and forbade the colonists to settle beyond that line (p. 143).

2 The Articles were not to go into effect till every state signed. Maryland
was the thirteenth state to sign.

198 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

any time. Each state cast one vote, and nine affirmative votes
were necessary to carry any important measure. Congress
could make war and peace, enter into treaties with foreign
powers, coin money, contract debts in the name of the United
States, and call upon each state for its share of the general
expenses.

The States cede Lands. — Although three states had tendered
their Western lands when Maryland signed the Articles, the
conditions of cession were not at once accepted by Congress,
and some time passed before the deeds were delivered. By the
year 1786, however, the claims northwest of the Ohio had been
ceded by New York, Virginia,^ Massachusetts, and Connecti-
cut.2 South of the Ohio, what is now West Virginia and Ken-
tucky still belonged to Virginia. North Carolina offered what is
now Tennessee to Congress in 1784,^ but the conditions were not
then accepted, and that territory was not turned over to Con-
gress till 1790. The long, narrow strip of western land owned
by South Carolina was ceded to Congress in 1787. South of
this was a strip owned by Georgia, and farther south lands long
in dispute between Georgia and Spain and Congress. Georgia
did not accept her present western limits till 1802.

Migration Westward. — Into the country west of the moun-
tains the people were moving in three great streams. One from
New England was pushing out along the Mohawk valley into
central New York ; another from Pennsylvania and Virginia

1 Virginia reserved ownership of a large tract called the Virginia Military
Lands. It lay in what is now Ohio between the Scioto and Little Miami rivers
(map, p. 201), and was used to pay bounties to her soldiers of the Revolution.

2 Connecticut reserved the ownership (and till 1800 the government) of a
tract 120 miles long, west of Pennsylvania. Of this " Western Reserve of Con-
necticut," some 500,000 acres were set apart in 1792 for the relief of persons
whose houses and farms had been burned and plundered by the British. The
rest was sold and the money used as a school fund.

8 When the settlers on the Watauga (pp. 181, 182) heard of this, they
became alarmed lest Congress should not accept the cession, "and forming a new
state which they called Franklin, applied to Congress for admission into the
Union. No attention was given to the application. North Carolina repealed
the act of cession, arranged matters with the settlers, and in 1787 the Franklin
government dissolved.

AFTER THE WAR

199

was pouring its population into Kentucky; the third from
North Carolina was overrunning Tennessee.

For this movement the hard times which followed the Revo-
lution were largely the cause. Compared with our time, the
means of making a livelihood were few and far less remunera-
tive. Great mills and factories each employing thousands of
persons had no existence. The im-
ports from Great Britain far sur-
passed in value our exports; the
difference was settled in specie
(coin) taken from
the country. The
people were poor,
and as land in the
West was cheap,
they left the East
and went westward.

Routes to the
Ohio Valley. — New
England people
bound to the Ohio
valley went through
Connecticut to
Kingston, New
York, on across New
Jersey to Easton,

A settler's log cabin.

Pennsylvania, and thence to Bedford, where they struck the
road cut years before by the troops of General Forbes, and by
it went to Pittsburg (p. 194). Settlers from Maryland and
Virginia went generally to Fort Cumberland in Maryland,
and then on by Braddock's Road to Pittsburg, or turned
off and reached the Monongahela at Redstone, or the Ohio
at Wheeling (map, p. 201).

Such was the rush to the Ohio valley that each spring and
summer hundreds of boats and arks left Pittsburg and Wheeling
or Redstone, and floated down the Ohio to Maysville, Louisville,

200

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

Ohio River flatboat of about 1840.
The boat is like those used in earUer times.

and other places in Kentucky. ^ The flatboat was usually twelve
feet wide and forty feet long, with high sides and a flat or
slightly arched top, and was steered, and when necessary was
rowed, by long oars or sweeps. Some were arranged to carry
cattle as well as household goods.

The Ohio Company of Associates. — Meanwhile, some old
soldiers of New England and New Jersey who had claims for
bounty lands,^ organized the Ohio Company of Associates, and

1 The favorite time for the river trip was from February to May, when there
was high water in the Ohio and its tributaries the Allegheny and Monongahela.
Then the voyage from Pittsburg to Louisville could be made in eight or ten days.
An observer at Pittsburg in 1787 saw 50 flatboats depart in six weeks. Another
man at Fort Finney counted 177 passing boats with 2700 people in eight
months.

2 In order to encourage enlistment in the army, Congress had offered to
give a tract of land to each officer and man who served through the war. The
premium in land, or gift, over and above pay, was known as land bounty.

AFTER THE WAR

201

in 1787 sent an agent (Manasseh Cutler) to New York, where
Congress was sitting, and bade him buy a great tract of land
northwest of the Ohio, on which they might settle.

The Ordinance of 1787. — When Cutler reached New York,
he found Congress debating a measure of great importance.
This was an ordinance for the government of the Northwest

MILES

"ICo I5n

The southern part of the Northwest Territory.

Territory, including the whole region from the Lakes to the
Ohio, and from Pennsylvania to the Mississippi. When
passed, this famous Ordinance of 1787 provided —

1. That until five thousand free white males lived in the
territory, the governing body should be a governor and three
judges appointed by Congress.

2. That when there were five thousand free white men in
the territory, they might elect a legislature and send a delegate
to Congress.

3. That slavery should not be permitted in the territory,
but that fugitive slaves should be returned.

4. That the territory should in time be cut up into not
more than five, or less than three, states.

5. That when the population of each division numbered

202 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

sixty thousand, it should be admitted into the Union on the
same footing as the original states.

Ohio Settled. — After the ordinance was passed, Cutler
bought five million acres of land north of the Ohio River, and
in the winter of 1787-88 a party of young men sent out by
the Ohio Company made their way from New England to a
branch of the Monongahela River. There they built a great
boat, and when the ice broke up, floated down the Ohio to the
lands of the Ohio Company, where they erected a few log huts
and a fort of hewn timber which they called Campus Martins.
The little settlement was called Marietta.^

Farther down the Ohio, on land owned by John Cleve
Symmes and associates, Columbia and Losantiville, afterward
called Cincinnati, were founded in 1788.

State Boundaries. — The old charters which led to the con-
flicting claims to land in the West, caused like disputes in the
East. Massachusetts claimed a strip of country embracing
western New York, and did not settle the dispute till 1786.^
A similar dispute between Connecticut and Pennsylvania was
settled in 1782.^ New York claimed all Vermont as having
once been part of New Netherland ; but Vermont was really

1 Read McMaster's History of the People of the U. S., Vol. I, pp. 505-519.
All the land bought by the Ohio Company was not for its use. A large part was
for another, known as the Scioto Company, which sent an agent to Paris and sold
the land to a French company. This, in turn, sold in small pieces to Frenchmen
eager to leave a country then in a state of revolution. In 1790, accordingly,
several hundred emigrants reached Alexandria, Virginia, and came on to the
little square of log huts, with a blockhouse at each corner, which the company had
built for them and named Gallipolis. Most of them were city -bred artisans,
unfit for frontier life, who suffered greatly in the wilderness.

2 The land was Included in the limits laid down in the charter of Massachu-
setts ; but that charter, was granted after the Dutch were in actual possession of
the upper Hudson. In 1786 a north and south line was drawn 82 miles west of
the Delaware. Ownership of the land west of that line went to Massachusetts ;
but jurisdiction over the land, the right to govern, was given to New York.

8 Connecticut, under her sea-to-sea grant from the crown, claimed a strip
across northern Pennsylvania, bought some land there from the Indians (1754),
and some of her people settled on the Susquehanna in what was known as the
Wyoming Valley (1762 and 1769). The dispute which followed, first with the
Penns and then with the state of Pennsylvania, dragged on till a court of arbi-
tration appomted by the Continental Congress decided in favor ot Pennsylvania.

AFTER THE WAR 203

an independent republic.^ In Kentucky the people were in-
sisting that their country be separated from Virginia and made
a state.

Trouble with Spain. — Congress had trouble in trying to se-
cure from foreign nations fair treatment for our commerce, and
was involved in a dispute over the navigation of the Missis-
sippi. Spain owned both banks at the mouth of the river, and
denied the right of Americans to go in or out without her con-
sent. The Spanish minister who came over in 1785 was ready
to make a commercial treaty if the river was closed to naviga-
tion for twenty-five years, and the Eastern states were quite
ready to agree to it. But the people of Kentucky and Tennes-
see threatened to leave the Union if cut off from the sea, and
no treaty was made with Spain till 1795.

The Weakness of the Confederation. — The question of trade
and commerce with foreign powers and between the states was
very serious, and the weakness of Congress in this and other
matters soon wrecked the Confederation.

1. In the first place, the Articles of Confederation gave
Congress no power to levy taxes of any kind. Money, there-
fore, could not be obtained to pay the debts of the United
States, or the annual cost of government.^

2. Congress had no power to regulate the foreign trade. As
there were few articles manufactured in the country, china, glass,
cutlery, edged tools, hardware, woolen, linen, and many other
articles of daily use were imported from Great Britain. As

1 Because of Champlain's discovery of the lake which now bears his name
(p. 115), the French claimed most of Vermont ; on their early maps it appears as
part of New France, and as late as 1739 they made settlements in it. About
1750 the governor of New Hampshire granted land in Vermont to settlers, and
the country began to be known as " New Hampshire Grants "; but in 1763 New
York claimed it as part of the region given to the Duke of York in 1664. This
brought on a bitter dispute which was still raging When, in 1777, the settlers
declared New Hampshire Grants " a free and independent state to be called New
Connecticut." Later the name was changed to Vermont. But the Continental
Congress, for fear of displeasing New York, never recognized Vermont as
a state.

2 Each state was bound to pay its share of the annual expenses; but they
failed or were unable to do so.

204

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

Great Britain took little from us, these goods were largely paid
for in specie, which grew scarcer and scarcer each year. Great
Britain, moreover, hurt our trade by shutting our vessels out of

her West Indies, and by
^^^^^^^(■^J^J^^^M^ heavy duties on Ameri-
can goods coming to her
ports in American ships.^
Congress, having no
power to regulate trade,
could not retaliate by
treating British ships in
the same way.

3. Congress had no
power to regulate trade
between the states. As
a consequence, some of
the states laid heavy
duties on goods imported
from other states. Re-
taliation followed, and
the safety of the Union
was endangered.

4. Congress did not
have sole power to coin
money and regulate the
value thereof. There
were, therefore, nearly as

allofSixPence

amd^rt}t^n^urcu'ri6 of CairidJ'cl/Of^
^oim. atry^aR'cfCmAr^(rumcU<§(0^
^ dccenttd' in a/ot^aynten^vts a/ncL i/n

TreafutjPaST5M0T

Tencel^^^VTMeiribl
Ti

e^n

^TflU^ty

New Hampshire colonial paper money.

Similar bills were issued by the states before 1789.

many kinds of paper money as there were states, and the money
issued by each state passed in others at all sorts of value, or
not at all. This hindered interstate trade.

5. Congress could not enforce treaties. It could make
treaties with other countries, but only the states could compel the
people to observe them, and the states did not choose to do so.

1 Why would not Great Britain make a trade treaty with us ? Head Fiske's
Critical Period, pp. 136-142 ; also pp. 142-147, about difficulties between the
states.

AFTER THE WAR 205

Congress asks for More Power. — Of the defects in the Ar-
ticles of Confederation Congress was fully aware, and it asked the
states to amend the Articles and give it more authority. ^ To do
this required the assent of all the states, and as the consent of
thirteen states could not be obtained, the additional powers were
not given to Congress.

This soon brought matters to a crisis. With no regulation
of trade, the purchase of more and more goods from British
merchants made money so scarce that the states were forced to
print and issue large amounts of paper bills. In Massachu-
setts, when the legislature refused to issue such currency, the
debtors rose and, led by a Revolutionary officer named Daniel
Shays, prevented the courts from trying suits for the recov-
ery of debts. The governor called out troops, and several
encounters took place before a bitter winter dispersed the in-
surgents.^

The Annapolis Trade Convention. — In this condition of
affairs, Virginia invited her sister states to send delegates to
a convention at Annapolis in 1786. They were to " take into
consideration the trade and commerce of the United States."
Five states sent delegates, but the convention could do nothing,
because less than half the states were present, and because the
powers of the delegates were too limited. A request was there-
fore made by it that Congress call a convention of the states
to meet at Philadelphia and " take into consideration the situa-
tion of the United States."

The Constitutional Convention. — Congress issued the call
early in 1787, and delegates from twelve states ^ met at Phila-
delphia and framed the Constitution of the United States.

1 Congress asked for authority to do three things : (1) to levy taxes on im-
ported goods, and use the money so obtained to discharge the debts due to
France, Holland, and Spain ; (2) to lay and collect a special tax, and use the
money to meet the annual expenses of government ; and (3) to regulate trade
with foreign countries,

2 The story of Shays's Rebellion is told in fiction in Bellamy's Duke of Stock-
bridge. Read McMaster's History of the People of the U. S., Vol. I, pp. 313-326.

* All the states except Rhode Island.

206

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

Washington was made president of the convention, and among
the members were many of the ablest men of the time.^

The Compromises. —

A^ Pre/ents h'u Complinunti to

V and requeftt the Favour tf- ^^-^ Company at Dinner,
4 gn/^f^'^'^^^at ^-.4f Clock.

f BILASZLrmA,

p^/t^d^/.

An jtnpaier ii defind. -0^

Invitation Sent by Washington, as president
of the convention.

In the possession of the Pennsylvania Historical
Society.

,*^

In the course of the de-
bates in the convention
great difference of opin-
ion arose on several mat-
ters.

The small states
wanted a Congress of
one house, and equality
of state representation.
The great states wanted
a Congress of two houses,
with representation in
proportion to population. This difference of opinion was so
serious that a compromise was necessary, and it was agreed
that in one branch (House of Representatives) the people
should be represented, and in the other (Senate) the states.

The question then arose whether slaves should be counted
as population. The Southern delegates said yes; the Northern^
no. It was finally agreed that direct taxes and representatives
should be apportioned according to population, and that three
fifths of the slaves should be counted as population. This was
the second compromise.

The convention agreed that Congress should regulate foreign
commerce. But the Southern members objected that by means

1 One had written the Albany Plan of Union ; some had been members of the
Stamp Act Congress ; some had signed the Declaration of Independence, or the
Articles of Confederation ; two had been presidents and twenty-eight had been
members of Congress; seven had been or were then governors of states. In
after times two (Washington and Madison) became Presidents, one (Elbridge
Gerry) Vice President, four members of the Cabinet, two Chief Justices and
two justices of the Supreme Court, five ministers at foreign courts, and many
others senators and members of the House of Representatives. One, Franklin,
has the distinction of having signed the Declaration of Independence, the treaty
of alliance with France (1778), the treaty of peace with Great Britain (1783),
and the Constitution of the United States, the four great documents in our early
history.

AFTER THE WAR 207

of this power Congress might pass navigation acts limiting
trade to American ships, which might raise freights on exports
from the South. Many Northern members, on the other hand,
wanted the slave trad^ stopped. These two matters were there-
fore made the basis of another compromise, by which Congress
could pass navigation acts, but could not prohibit the slave
trade before 1808.

The Constitution Ratified. — When the convention had fin-
ished its work (September 17, 1787), the Constitution ^ was sent
to the old (Continental) Congress, which referred it to the
states, and the states, one by one, called on the people to elect
delegates to conventions to ratify or reject the new plan of
government. In a few states it was accepted without any
demand for changes. In others it was vigorously opposed as
likely to set up too strong a government. In Massachusetts,
New York, and Virginia adoption was long in doubt. ^

By July, 1788, eleven states had ratified, and the Constitu-
tion was in force as to these States. ^

1 Every student should read the Constitution, as printed near the end of this
book or elsewhere, and should know about the three branches of government,
legislative, executive, and judicial; the powers of Congress (Art. I, Sec. 8), of
the President (Art. I, Sec. 7; Art. II, Sees. 2 and 3), and of the United States
courts (Art. Ill) ; the principal powers forbidden to Congress (Art. I, Sec. 9)
and to the states (Art. I, Sec. 10) ; the methods of amending the Constitution
(Art, V) ; the supremacy of the Constitution (Art. VI).

2 To remove the many objections made to the new plan, and enable the
people the better to understand it, Hamilton, Madison, and Jay wrote a series of
little essays for the press, in which they defended the Constitution, explained
and discussed its provisions; and showed how closely it resembled the state con-
stitutions. These essays were called The Federalist^ and, gathered into book
form (in 1788), have become famous as a treatise on the Constitution and on
government. Those who opposed the Constitution were called Anti-Federalists,
and they wrote pamphlets and elaborate series of letters in the newspapers,
signed by such names as Cato, Agrippa, A Countryman. They declared that
Congress would overpower the states, that the President would become a despot,
that the Courts would destroy liberty ; and they insisted that amendments should
be made, guaranteeing liberty of speech, freedom of the press, trial by jury, no
quartering of troops in tmie of peace, liberty of conscience. Read McMaster's
History of the People of the U. 8., Vol. I, pp. 490-491 ; 478-479.

8 Because the Constitution provided that it should go into force as soon as
nipe states ratified it. North Carolina and Rhode Island did not ratify till some
months later, and, till they did, were not members of the new Union.

M< M. BRIEF — 13

208

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

Establishment of the New Government. ^ — The Continental
Congress then appointed the first Wednesday in January, 1789,
as the day on which electors of President should be chosen in
the eleven states ; the first Wednesday in February as the day
on which the electors should meet and vote for President ; and
the first Wednesday in March (which happened to be the 4th
of March) as the day when the new Congress should assemble
at New York and canvass the vote for President.

Federal Hall, on Wall Street, New York. From au old print.

Washington the First President. — When March 4 came,
neither the Senate nor the House of Representatives had a
quorum, and a month went by before the electoral votes were
counted, and Washington and John Adams declared President
and Vice President of the United States.^

1 In three of the eleven states then in the Union (Pennsylvania, Mary-
land, and Virginia) the presidential electors were chosen hj vote of the people.
In Massachusetts the voters in each congressional district voted for two can-
didates, and the legislature chose one of the two, and also two electors at large.
In New Hampshire also the people voted for electors, but none receiving a
majority vote, the legislature made the choice. Elsewhere the legislatures ap-
pointed electors ; but in New York the two branches of the legislature fell into
a dispute and failed to choose any. Washington received the first vote of all
the 69 electors, and Adams received 34 votes, the next highest number.

AFTER THE WAR 209

Some time now elapsed before Washington could be noti-
fied of his election. More time was consumed by the long
journey from Mount Vernon to New York, where, on April 30,
1789, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall, he took the oath
of office in the presence of a crowd of his fellow-citizens.

SUMMARY

1. The treaty of peace defined the boundaries of our country; but
Great Britain continued to hold the forts along the north, and Spain to oc-
cupy the country in the southwest.

2. Seven of the thirteen states claimed the country west of the moun-
tains.

3. The other six, especially Maryland, denied these claims, and this
dispute delayed the adoption of the Articles of Confederation till 1781.

4. By the year 1786 the lands northwest of the Ohio had been ceded
to Congress.

5. In 1787, therefore, Congress formed the Northwest Territory.

6. Certain states, meantime, were settling disputes as to their bound-
aries in the east.

7. We had trouble with Spain over the right to use the lower Missis-
sippi River, and with Great Britain over matters of trade.

8. Six years' trial proved that the government of the United States
was too weak under the Articles of Confederation.

9. In 1787, therefore, the Constitution was framed, and within a year
was ratified by eleven states.

10. In 1789 Washington and Adams became President and Vice Presi-
dent, and government under the Constitution began.

CHAPTER XVII

OUR COUNTRY IN 1789

The States. — When Washington became President, the thir-
teen original states of the Union ^ were in many respects very
unlike the same states in our day. In some the executive was
called president ; in others governor. In some he had a veto ;
in others he had not. In some there was no senate. To be a
voter in those days a man had to have an estate worth a certain
sum of money ,2 or a specified annual income, or own a certain
number of acres.^

Moreover, to be eligible as governor or a member of a state
legislature a man had to own more property than was needed to
qualify him to vote. In many states it was further required
that officeholders should be Protestants, or at least Christians,
or should believe in the existence of God.

The adoption of the Constitution made necessary certain
acts of legislation by the states. They could issue no more
bills of credit ; provision therefore had to be made for the re-

1 The states ratified the Constitution on the dates given below : —

Delaware . . .

. Dec. 7, 1787

South Carolina .

. May 23, 1788

Pennsylvania

. Dec. 12, 1787

New Hampshire .

. June 21, 1788

New Jersey . .

. Dec. 18, 1787

10.

Virginia ....

. June 26, 1788

Georgia ....

. . Jan. 2, 1788

11.

New York . . .

. July 2C, 1788

Connecticut . .

. Jan. 9, 1788

12.

North Carolina .

. Nov. 21, 1789

Massachusetts .

. . Feb. 7, 1788

13.

Rhode Island . .

. May 29, 1790

Maryland . . .

. April 28, 1788

2 In New Jersey any "person" having a freehold (real estate owned out-
right or for life) worth £50 might vote. In New York each voter had to have a
freehold of £20, or pay 40 shillings house rent and his taxes. In Massachusetts
he had to have an estate of £60, or an income of £3 from his estate.

3 In Maryland 50 acres ; in South Carolina 60 acres or a town lot ; in Geor-
gia £10 of taxable property.

210

OUR COUNTRY IN 1789 211

demption of those outstanding. They could lay no duties on
imports; such as had laid import duties had to repeal their laws
and abolish their customhouses. All lighthouses, beacons,
buoys, maintained by individual states were surrendered to
the United States, and in other ways the states had to adjust
themselves to the new government.

The National Debt. — Each of the states was in debt for
money and supplies used in the war ; and over the whole country
hung a great debt contracted by the old Congress. Part of this
national debt was re pre- _

sented by bills of credit, s . CQm^JfmWJJt'L, CUtf^e^Cy. |
loan-omce cermncates, lot- ^^^s y^^^^J T-his BiLLlntiti« rhe Bea«r to 6
tery certiiicares, ana /^ r|agK^«. a© o^^e^a.^; or the vaiue thereof $
many other sorts of prom- I ^[ ^^^ tZytGo^g^fst^H:^^
ises to pay, which had be- ^.i;^^^^/^^!'^)^'' ''''■ l
come almost worthless. <> ^^>*^^-^ '^^ ''^^^^^.^X

This was strictly true of o *• ^ ,

•/ Continental paper money.

the bills of credit or paper

money issued in great quantities by the Continental Congress.^

Besides this domestic debt owed to the people at home, there

was a foreign debt, for Congress had borrowed a little money

from Spain and a great deal from France and Holland. On

this debt interest was due, for Congress had not been able to

pay even that.

1 When Congress was forced to assume the conduct of the war, money-
was needed to pay the troops. But the Congress then had no authority to tax
either the colonies or the people, so (in 1775-81) it issued bills of credit, or Con-
tinental money, of various denominations. A. loan office was also established
in each state, and the people were asked to loan Congress money and receive
in return loan-office certificates bearing interest and payable in three years.
But little money came from this source ; and the people refused to take the
bills of credit at their face value. The states then made them legal tender, that
is, made them lawful money for the payment of debts. But as they became
more and more plentiful, prices of everything paid for in Continental money
rose higher and higher. Erom an old bill of January, 1781, it appears that
in Philadelphia a pair of boots cost $600 in paper dollars ; six yards of chintz,
f 900 ; eight yards of binding, $400 ; a skein of silk, $10 ; and butter, $20 a
pound. In Boston at the same time sugar was $10 a pound ; beef, $8 ; and
flour, $1575 a barrel. To say of anything that it was " not worth a continental "
was to say that it was utterly worthless.

212

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

The Money of the Country. — The Continental bills having
long ceased to circulate, the currency of the country consisted
of paper money issued by individual states, and the gold, silver,
and copper coins of foreign countries. These passed by such
names as the Joe or Johannes, the doubloon, pistole, moidore,
guinea, crown, dollar, shilling, sixpence, pistareen, penny. A
common coin was the Spanish milled dollar, which passed at
different ratings in different parts of the country.^ Congress
in 1786 adopted the dollar as a unit, divided it into the half, quar-
ter, dime, half dime, cent, and half cent, and ordered some cop-
pers to be minted ; but very few were made by the contractor.
Population. — Just how many people dwelt in our country

before 1790 can only
be guessed at. In
that year they were
counted for the first
time, and it was then
ascertained that they
numbered 3,929,000
(in the -thirteen
states) of whom 700,-
000 were slaves. All
save about 200,000
dwelt along the sea-
board, east of the mountains; and nearly half were between
Chesapeake Bay and Florida.

The most populous state was Virginia ; after her, next
in order were Massachusetts (including Maine), Pennsylvania,
North Carolina, and New York.

The most populous city was Philadelphia, after which came
New York, Boston, Charleston, and Baltimore.

Life in the Cities. — What passed for thriving cities in those
days were collections of a thousand or two houses, very few of

1 In New England it was valued at six shillings ; in New York at eight ; in
Pennsylvania at seven and six pence ; in South Carolina and Georgia at four
shillings and eight pence.

Settled area in 1790.

OUR COUNTRY IN 1789 213

which made any pretension to architectural beauty, ranged

along narrow streets, none of which were sewered, and few of

which were paved or lighted even on nights when the moon did

not shine. During daylight a few constables kept order. At

night small parties of men called the night watch walked the

streets. Each citizen was required

to serve his turn on the watch or find

a substitute or pay a fine. He had to

be a fireman and keep in his house

near the front door a certain number

of leather fire buckets with which at

the clanging of the courthouse or mar- ^^jy ^^ engTne.

ket bell he would run to the burning

building and take his place in the line which passed the full

buckets from the nearest pump to the engine, or in the line

which passed the empty buckets from the engine back to the

pump. Water for household use or for putting out fires came

from private wells or from the town pumps. There were no

city water works.

Lack of good and abundant water, lack of proper drainage,
ignorance of the laws of health, filthy, unpaved streets, spread
diseases of the worst sort. Smallpox was common. Yellow
fever in the great cities was of almost annual occurrence, and
often raged with the violence of a plague.

Lack of Conveniences. — Few appliances which increase com-
fort, or promote health, or save time or labor, were in use.
Not even in the homes of the rich were there cook stoves or
furnaces or open grates for burning anthracite coal, or a bath
room, or a gas jet. Lamps and candles afforded light by night.
The warming pan, the foot stove (p. 97), and the four-posted
bedstead (p. 76), with curtains to be drawn when the nights
were cold, were still essentials. The boy was fortunate who
did not have to break the ice in his water pail morning after
morning in winter. Clocks and watches were luxuries for the
rich. The sundial was yet in use, and when the flight of time
was to be noted in hours or parts, people resorted to the hour

214

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

glass. Many a minister used one on Sundays to time his
preaching by, and many a housewife to time her cooking. i

No city had yet reached such size as
to make street cars or cabs or omnibuses
necessary. Time was less valuable than
in our day. The merchant kept his own
books, wrote all business letters with a
quill pen, and waited for the ink to dry
or sprinkled it with sand. There were no
envelopes, no postage stamps, no letter
boxes in the streets, no collection of the
mails. The letter written, the paper was
carefully folded, sealed with wax or a
wafer, addressed, and carried to the post
ofi&ce, where postage was paid in money
at rates which would now seem extor-
tionate. A single sheet of paper was a
single letter, and two sheets a double letter on which double
postage was paid. Three mails a week between Philadelphia
and New York, and two a week between New York and Boston,

Hour glass.

In Essex Hall, Salem.

Quills as sold for making pens. In Essex Hall, Salem.

were thought ample. The post offices in the country towns
consisted generally of a drawer or a few boxes in a store.

1 The hour glass consisted of two small glass bulbs joined by a small glass
tube. In one bulb was as much fine sand as in the course of an hour could run
through the tube into the other bulb. At auctions when ships or real estate were
for sale it was common to measure time by burning an inch or more of candle ,*
that is, the bidding would go on till a certain length of candle was consumed.

OUR COUNTRY IN 1789 215

Newspapers could not be sent by mail, and there were few to
send. Though the first newspaper in the colonies was printed
in Boston as early as 1704, the first daily newspaper in our
country was issued in Philadelphia in 1784. Illustrated news-
papers, trade journals, scientific weeklies, illustrated magazines,^
were unknown. Such newspapers as existed in 1789 were pub-
lished most of them once a week, and a few twice, and were
printed by presses worked by hand ; and no paper anywhere
in our country was issued on Sunday or sold for as little as a
penny.

Books. — In no city in 1790 could there have been found
an art gallery, a free museum of natural history, a school or
institute of any sort where instruction in the arts and sciences
was given. There were many good private libraries, but
hardly any that were open to public use. Books were mostly
imported from Great Britain, or such as were sure of a ready
sale were reprinted by some American publisher when enough
subscribers were obtained to pay the cost. Of native authors
very few had produced, any thing which is now read save by
the curious.2

Schools and Colleges. — In education great progress had
been made. There were as yet no normal schools, no high
schools, no manual training schools, and, save in New England,
no approach to the free common school of to-day. There were
private, parish, and charity schools and academies in all the
states. In many of these a small number of children of the
poor, under certain conditions, might receive instruction in

^ The Massachusetts Magazine was illustrated with occasional engravings of
cities and scenery ; but it was not what we know as an illustrated magazine.
Read a description of the newspapers of this time in McMaster's History of the
People of the U. S., Vol. I, pp. 35-38.

2 Franklin is still the most popular of colonial writers. His autobiography,
his Way to Wealth, and many of his essays are still republished and widely read.
The poetry of Philip Freneau, of John Trumbull, and Francis Hopkinson is still
read by many ; but it was in political writing that our countrymen excelled.
No people have ever produced a finer body of political literature than that called
forth by the Revolution. Read McMaster's History of the People of the U. S.^
Vol. I, pp. 74-80.

216

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

reading, writing, and arithmetic. But as yet the states did
not have the money with which to establish a great system of
free common schools.

Money in aid of academies and colleges was often raised by
lotteries. Indeed, every one of the eight oldest colleges of that

Painting by E. L. Henry.

An old-time private cairiage.

C. Ktackner.

day had received such help.^ In each of these the classes were
smaller, the course of instruction much simpler, and the gradu-
ates much younger than to-day. In no country of that time
were the rich and well-to-do better educated than in the United
States,^ and it is safe to say that in none was primary education

1 Harvard, William and Mary, Yale, Princeton, Pennsylvania, Columbia,
Brown, and Dartmouth. In a lottery " drawn " in 1797 for the benefit of Brown
University, 9000 tickets were sold at $6 each — a total of $54,000. Of this,
$8000 was kept by the university, and $46,000 distributed in 3328 prizes — 2000
at $9 each, 1000 at $12 each, and the rest from $20 to $4000.

2 In the convention which framed the Constitution twenty of the fifty-five
men were college graduates. Five were graduates of Princeton, three of Har-
vard, three of Yale, three of William and Mary, two of Pennsylvania, one of
King's (now Columbia), and one each of Oxford, Edinburgh, and Glasgow.

OUR COUNTRY IN 1789

217

— reading, writing, and arithmetic — more diffused among the
people. 1

Travel. — To travel from one city to another in 1789 re-
quired at least as many days as it now does hours. ^ The stage-
coach, horseback, or private con-
veyances were the common means
of land travel. The roads were bad
and the large rivers unbridged, and
in stormy weather or in winter the
delays at the ferries were often very
long. Breakdowns and upsets were
common, and in rainy weather a
traveler by stagecoach was fortu-
nate if he did not have to help the
driver pull the wheels out of the
mud. 3

The Inns and Taverns, some-
times called coffeehouses or ordina-
ries, at which travelers lodged, were
designated by pictured signs or em-
blems hung before the door, and
were given names which had no
relation to their uses, as the Indian
Head, the Crooked Billet, the Green
Dragon, the Plow and Harrow. In
these taverns dances or balls were held, and sometimes public
meetings. To those in the country came sleigh-ride parties.

Sign of the Indian Head Tavern,
near Concord, Mass.

Now in the possession of the Concord
Antiquarian Society.

iThe writings of men who were not college graduates — "Washington,
Franklin, Dickinson, and many others — speak well for the character of the
early schools.

2 The journey from Boston to New York by land consumed six days, but
may now be made in less than six hours. New York was a two days' journey
from Philadelphia, but the distance may now be traversed in two hours.

^ One pair of horses usually dragged the stage eighteen miles, when a fresh
team was put on, and if no accident happened, the traveler would reach an inn
about ten at night. After a frugal meal he would betake himself to bed, for at
three the next morning, even if it rained or snowed, he had to make ready, by
the light of a horn lantern or a farthing candle, for another ride of eighteen hours.

218 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

From them the stagecoaches departed, and before their doors
auctions were often held, and in the great room within were
posted public notices of all sorts.

The Shops were designated in much the same way as the
inns, not by street numbers but by signs ; as the Lock and Key,
the Lion and the Glove, the Bell in Hand, the Golden Ball, the
Three Doves. One shop is described as near a certain bake-
house, another as close by the town house, another as opposite
a judge's dwelling. The shop was usually the front room of a
little house. In the rear or overhead lived the tradesman, his
family, and his apprentice.

Methods of Business. — For his wares the tradesman took
cash when he could get it, gave short credit with good security
when he had to, and often was forced to resort to barter.
Thus paper makers took rags for paper, brush makers exchanged
brushes for hog's bristles, and a general shopkeeper took grain,
wood, cheese, butter, in exchange for dry goods and clothing.

Few of the modern methods of extending business, of seek-
ing customers, of making the public aware of what the merchant
had for sale, existed, even in a rude state. There were no com-
mercial travelers, no means of widespread advertising. When
an advertisement had been inserted in a newspaper whose circu-
lation was not fifteen hundred copies, when a handbill had been
posted in the markets and the coffeehouses, the means of
reaching the public were exhausted.

The Workingman. — What was true of the merchant was
true of men in every walk in life. Their opportunities were
few, their labor was hard, their comforts of life were far
inferior to what is now within their reach. In every great city
to-day are men, women, and boys engaged in a hundred trades,
professions, and occupations unknown in 1790. The great cor-
porations, mills, factories, mines, railroads, the steamboats, rapid
transit, the telegraph, the telephone, the typewriter, the sewing
machine, the automobile, the postal delivery service, the police
and fire departments, the banks and trust companies, the depart-
ment stores, and scores of other inventions and business institu-

OUR COUNTRY IN 1789 219

tions of great cities, now giving employment to millions of
human beings, have been created since 1790.

The working day was from sunrise to sunset, with one hour
for breakfast and another for dinner. Wages were about
a third what they are now, and were less when the days were
short than when they were long. The redemptioner was still
in demand in the Middle States. In the South almost all labor
was done by slaves.

Slavery. — In the North slavery was on the decline. • While
still under the crown, Virginia and several other colonies had
attempted to check slavery by forbidding the importation of
more slaves, but their laws for this purpose were disallowed
by the king. After 1776 the states were free to do as they
pleased in the matter, and many of them stopped the importa-
tion of slaves. Moreover, before Congress shut slavery out of
the Northwest Territory, the New England states and Pennsyl-
vania had either abolished slavery outright or provided for its
extinction by gradual abolition laws.^

Industries. — In New England the people lived on their own
farms, which they cultivated with their own hands and with
the help of their children, or engaged in codfishing, whaling,
lumbering, shipbuilding, and commerce. They built ships and
sold them abroad, or used them to carry away the products
of New England to the South, to the ports of France, Spain,
Russia, Sweden, the West Indies, and even to China. To the
West Indies went horses, cattle, lumber, salt fish, and mules ;
and from them came sugar, molasses, coffee, indigo, wines.
From Sweden and Russia came iron, hemp, and duck.

The Middle States produced much grain and flour. New

1 In 1777 Vermont forbade the slavery of men and women. In 1780 Penn-
sylvania passed a gradual abolition act. Massachusetts by her constitution
declared " All men are born free and equal," which her courts held prohibited
slavery. New Hampshire in her constitution made a similar declaration with a
like result. In 1784 Connecticut and Rhode Island adopted gradual abolition
laws, providing that children born of a slave parent after a certain date should
be free when they reached a certain age, and that their children were never to
be slaves. These were states where slaves had never been much in demand,
and where the industries of the people did not depend on slave labor.

230

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

York had lost much of her fur trade because of the British
control of the frontier posts ; but her exports of flour, grain,
lumber, leather, and what not, in 1791, were valued at nearly
13,000,000. The people of Pennsylvania made lumber, linen,
flour, paper, iron; built ships; carried on a prosperous com-
merce with foreign lands and a good fur trade with the Indians.
In Maryland and Virginia the staple crop was still tobacco,
but they also produced much grain and flour. North Carolina

Trading canoe.

produced tar, pitch, resin, turpentine, and lumber. Some rice
and tobacco were raised. Great herds of cattle and hogs ran
wild. In South Carolina rice was the most important crop.
Indigo, once an important product, had declined since the
Revolution, and cotton was only just beginning to be grown
for export. From the back country came tar, pitch, turpen-
tine, and beaver, deer, and bear skins for export.

The Fur Trade. — The region of the Great Lakes, where the
British still held the forts on the American side of the bound-
ary, was the chief seat of the fur trade. Goods for Indian

OUR COUNTRY IN 1789 221

use were brought from England to Montreal and Quebec, and
carried in canoes to Oswego, Niagara, Detroit, Mackinaw,
Sault Ste. Marie (map, p. 194), and thence scattered over the
Northwest.^

1 The departure of a fleet of canoes from Quebec or Montreal was a fine sight.
The trading canoe of bark was forty -five feet long, and carried four tons of
goods. The crew of eight men, with their hats gaudy with plumes and tinsel,
their brilliant handkerchiefs tied around their throats, their bright-colored shirts,
flaming belts, and gayly worked moccasins, formed a picture that can not be
described. When the axes, powder, shot, dry goods, and provisions were
packed in the canoes, when each voyager had hung his votive offering in the
chapel of his patron saint, a boatman of experience stepped into the bow and
another into the stem of each canoe, the crew took places between them, and
at the word the fleet glided up the St. Lawrence on its way to the Ottawa,
and thence on to Sault Ste. Marie, to Grand Portage (near the northeast corner
of what is now Minnesota), or to Mackinaw.

SUMMARY

1. In 1789 the states had governments less democratic than at present ;
in general only property owners could vote and hold office.

2. The states were all in debt, and Congress had incurred besides a
large national debt.

3. The population was less than 4,000,000, mostly on the Atlantic
seaboard.

4. Cities were few and small, without street cars, pavements, water
works, gas or electric lights, public libraries or museums, letter carriers, or
paid firemen. Everywhere many of the common conveniences of mod-
ern life'were unknown.

5. Travel was slow and tiresome, because there were no railroads,
steamboats, or automobiles.

6. Occupations were far fewer than now, wages lower, and hours of
labor longer. Slavery had been abolished, or was being gradually stopped,
in New England and Pennsylvania, but existed in all the other states;
and in the South nearly all the labor was done by slaves.

7. New Englanders were engaged in farming, fishing, lumbering, and
commerce; the Middle States produced much wheat and flour, and also
lumber; the South chiefly tobacco, rice, and tar, pitch, and turpentine.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE NEW GOVERNMENT

First Acts of Congress. — During Washington's first term
of ofifice as President (1789-93), the time of Congress was
largely taken up with the passage of laws necessary to put the

new government in opera-
tion, and to carry out the
plan of the Constitution.

Departments of State,
Treasury, and War were es-
tablished ; a Supreme Court
was organized with a Chief
Justice 1 and five associates;
three Circuits (one for each
of the three groups of states,
Eastern, Middle, and South-
ern) and thirteen District
Courts (one for each state)
were created, and provision
was made for all the machin-
ery of justice ; and twelve
amendments to the Constitution were sent out to the states,
of which ten were ratified by the requisite number of states
and became a part of the Constitution.^

1 Washington appointed John Jay the first Chief Justice, and gave the newly
created secretaryships of State, Treasury, and War to Thomas Jefferson, Alex-
ander Hamilton, and Henry Knox respectively. These men were intended to be
heads of departments ; but Washington soon began to consult them and the
Attorney General on matters of state and thus made them also a body of ad-
visers known as " the Cabinet." All the Secretaries and the Postmaster General
and the Attorney General are now members of the Cabinet.

2 These ten amendments form a sort of " bill of rights," and were intended
to remove objections to the Constitution by those who feared that the national
government might encroach on the liberties of the people.

222

Desk used by Washington while President.

In the possession of the Pennsylvania Historical
Society.

THE NEW GOVERNMENT 223

At the second session of Congress provision was made, in
the Funding Measure, for the assumption of the Continental and
state debts incurred during the war for independence. ^ The
District of Columbia as the permanent seat of government was
located on the banks of the Potomac,^ and the temporary seat
of government was moved from New York to Philadelphia,
there to remain for ten years.

New States. — The states of North Carolina and Rhode
Island, having at last ratified the Constitution, sent representa-
tives and senators to share in the work of Congress during
this session.

The quarrel between New York and Vermont having been
settled, Vermont was admitted in 1791; and Virginia having
given her consent, the people of Kentucky were authorized to
form a state constitution, and Kentucky entered the Union
in 1792.3

The National Bank and the Currency. — The funding of the
debt (proposed by Hamilton) was the first great financial meas-
ure adopted by Congress.** The second (1791) was the charter of

1 For the different kinds of debt, see p. 211. Tlie Continental money was
funded at SI in government stock for $100 in tlie paper money ; but the other
forms of debt were assumed by the government at their face value. All told,
— state debts, foreign debt, loan-office certificates, etc., — these obligations
amounted to about $75,000,000. To pay so large a sum in cash was impossible,
so Congress ordered interest-bearing stock to be given in exchange for evidence
of debt.

2 As first laid out, the District of Columbia was a square ten miles on a
side, and was partly in Virginia and partly in Maryland. But the piece in Vir-
ginia many years later (1846) was given back to that state.

8 After these two states were admitted each was given a star and a stripe on
the national flag. Until 1818 our flag thus had fifteen stars and fifteen stripes,
no further change being made as new states were admitted. In 1818 two stripes
were taken off, the number of stars was made the same as the number of states,
and since then each new state has been represented by a new star.

* Alexander Hamilton was bom in 1757 on the island of Nevis, one of the
British West Indies. He was sent to New York to be educated, and entered
King's College (now Columbia University). There he became an ardent patriot,
wrote pamphlets in defense of the first Congress, and addressed a public meeting
when but seventeen. He was captain of an artillery company in 1776, one of
Washington's aids in 1777-81, distinguished himself at Yorktown, and (in 1782)
went to Congress. He was a man of energy, enthusiasm, and high ideals, was

MCM. BRIEF 14

224

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

the Bank of the United States with power to establish branches in
the states and to issue bank notes to be used as money. The

third (1792) was the law pro-
viding for a national coinage
and authorizing the establish-
ment of a United States mint
for making the coin.^ It was
ordered that whoever would
bring gold or silver to the
mint should receive for it the
same weight of coins. This
was free coinage of gold and
silver, and made our stand-
ard of money bimetallic^ or of
two metals ; for a debtor
could choose which kind of
money he would pay.
Hamilton's Tomb, New York city. r^^^ Revenue LawS. —

Other financial measures of Washington's first term were the
tariff law, which levied duties on imported goods, wares, and
merchandise, the excise or whisky tax, and the law fixing rates
of postage on letters. ^

possessed of a singular genius for finance, and believed in a vigorous national
government. As Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton proposed not only the
funding and assumption plans, but the national bank and the mint.

1 The coins were to be the eagle or ten-dollar piece, half eagle, and quarter
eagle of gold ; the dollar, half, quarter, dime, and half dime of silver ; and the
cent and half cent of copper. The mint was established at once at Philadelphia,
and the first copper coin was struck in 1793. But coinage was a slow process,
and many years passed before foreign coins ceased to circulate. The accounts
of Congress were always kept in dollars and cents. But the states and the
people used pounds, shillings, pence, and Spanish dollars, and it was several
years before the states, by law, required their officers to levy taxes and keep
accounts in dollars and cents (Virginia in 1792, Ehode Island and Massa-
chusetts in 1795, New York and Vermont in 1797, New Jersey in 1799).

2 A single letter in those days was one written on a single sheet of paper,
large or small, and the postage on it was 6 cents for any distance under 30
miles, 8 cents from 30 to 60, 10 cents from 60 to 100, and so on to 450 miles,
above which the rate was 25 cents. In all our country there were but 75 post
oflfices, and the revenue derived from them was about $100,000 a year.

THE NEW GOVERNMENT

225

The Rise of Parties. — As to the justice and wisdom of the
acts of Congress the people were divided in their opinions.
Those who approved and supported the administration were
called Federalists, and had for leaders Washington, John
Adams, Hamilton, Robert Morris, John Jay, and Rufus King;
those who opposed the administration were the Anti-Federal-
ists, or Republicans, whose great leaders were Jefferson, Madi-
son, Monroe, Gerry, Gallatin, and Randolph.

The Republicans had opposed the funding and assumption
measures, the national bank, and the excise. They complained
that the national debt was too large, that the salaries of the
President, Congressmen, and officials were too high, and that
the taxes were too heavy ; and they accused the Federalists of
a fondness for monarchy and aristocracy.

Washington opened each session of Congress with a speech
just as the king opened Parliament, and each branch of Congress
presented an answer just as the Lords and Commons did to the
king. Nobody could go to the President's reception without a
card of invitation. The judges of the Supreme Court wore
gowns as did English judges. The Senate held its daily ses-

Lady Washington's reception. From an old print.

226 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

sions in secret, and shut out reporters and the people. All
this the Anti-Federalists held to be unrepublican.

The Election of 1792. — When the time came, in 1792, to elect
a successor to Washington, there were thus two political parties.
Both parties supported Washington for President ; but the
Republicans tried hard, though in vain, to defeat Adams for
Vice President.

Opposition to the Government by no means ended with the
formation of parties and votes at the polls. The Assembly of
Virginia condemned the assumption of the state debts. North
Carolina denounced assumption and the excise law. In Mary-
land a resolution declaring assumption dangerous to the rights
of the states was lost by the casting vote of the Speaker. The
right of Congress to tax pleasure carriages was tested in the
Supreme Court, which declared the tax constitutional. When
that court decided (1793) that a citizen of one- state might sue
another state, Virginia, Connecticut, and Massachusetts called
for a constitutional amendment to prevent this, and the Eleventh
Amendment was proposed by Congress (1794) and declared in
force in 1798. The tax on whisky caused an insurrection in
Pennsylvania.

The Whisky Insurrection. — The farmers around Pittsburg
were largely engaged in distilling whisky, refused to pay the
tax, and drove off the collectors. Congress thereupon (1794)
enacted a law to enforce the collection, but when the marshal
arrested some of the offenders, the people rose, drove him
away, and by force of arms prevented the execution of the law.
Washington then called for troops from Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, and these marching across the
state by a mere show of force brought the people to obedience.
Leaders of the insurrection were arrested, tried, and convicted
of treason, but were pardoned by Washington .^

The Indian War. — Still farther west, meantime, a great
battle had been fought with the Indians. The succession of
boats loaded with emigrants floating down the Ohio, and the
1 Read McMaster's Eistory of the People of the U. S., Vol. II, pp. 189-204.

THE NEW GOVERNMENT

227

arrivals of settlers north of the river at Marietta, Gallipolis,
and Cincinnati, had greatly excited the Indians. The coming of
the whites meant the destruction of game and of fur-bearing
animals, and the pushing westward of the Indians. This the
red men determined to resist, and did so by attacking boats and
killing emigrants, and in January, 1790, they marched down on
the settlement called Big Bottom (northwest of Marietta) and
swept it from the face of the earth.

Washington sent fifteen hundred troops from Kentucky
and Pennsylvania against the Indians in the autumn of 1790.
Led by Colonel Harmar, the troops burned some Indian supplies
and villages, but accomplished nothing save to enrage the
Indians yet more.
Washington there-
upon put General St.
Clair in command,
and in the autumn of
1791 St. Clair set off to
build a chain of forts
from Cincinnati to
Lake Michigan ; but
the Indians surprised
him and cut his army
to pieces.

Anthony Wayne
was next placed in
command, and two Territory ceded by the treaty of Greenville.

years were spent in careful preparation before he began his
march across what is now the state of Ohio. At the Falls of
the Maumee (August, 1794) he met and beat the Indians so
soundly that a year later, by the treaty of Greenville, a last-
ing peace was made with the ten great nations of the North-
west.

Neutrality. — Washington's second term of office was a
stormy time in foreign as well as in domestic affairs. In
February, 1793, the French Republic declared war on Great

228 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

Britain, and so brought up the question, Which side shall the
United States take ? Washington said neither side, and issued
a proclamation of neutrality, warning the people not to commit
hostile acts in favor of either Great Britain or France. The
Republicans (and many who were Federalists) grew angry at this

Washington's coach.

and roundly abused the President. France, they said, is an old
friend ; Great Britain, our old enemy. France helped win inde-
pendence and loaned us money and sent us troops and ships ;
Great Britain attempted to enslave us. We were bound to
France by a treaty of alliance and a treaty of commerce;
we were bound to Great Britain by no treaty of any kind.
To be neutral, then, was to be ungrateful to France. ^ As a
result the Federalists were called the British party, and they,
in turn, called the Republicans the French party or Democrats.
Great Britain seizes our Ships. — To preserve neutrality un-
der such conditions would have been hard enough, but Great
Britain made it harder still by seizing American merchant
ships that were carrying lumber, fish, flour, and provisions to
the French West Indies.^

1 Good feeling toward France led the Republicans to some funny extremes.
To address a person as Sir, Mr., Mrs., or Miss was unrepublican. You should
say, as in France, Citizen Jones, or Citess Smith. Tall poles with a red liberty
cap on top were erected in every town where there were Republicans ; civic
feasts were held ; and July 14 (the anniversary of the day the Bastile of Paris
fell In 1789) was duly celebrated.

2 When Great Britain drove French ships from the sea, France threw open
the trade with the French West Indies to other ships. But Great Britain had
laid down a rule that no neutral could have in time of war a trade with her
enemy it did not have in time of peace. Our merchants fell under the ban of
Great Britain for this reason.

THE NEW GOVERNMENT 229

Our merchants at once appealed to Congress for aid, and the
Republicans attempted to retaliate on Great Britain in a way
that might have brought on war. In this they failed, but Con-
gress laid an embargo for a short time, preventing all our ves-
sels from sailing to foreign ports ; and money was voted to
build fortifications at the seaports from Maine to Georgia,
and for building arsenals at Springfield (Mass.) and Carlisle
(Pa.), and for constructing six frigates. ^

Washington did not wish war, and with the approval of the
Senate sent Chief-Justice John Jay to London to make a
treaty of friendship and commerce with Great Britain.

Jay's Treaty, when ratified (1795), was far from what was
desired. But it provided for the delivery of the posts on our
northern frontier, its other provisions were the best that could
be had, and it insured peace. For this reason among others
the treaty gave great offense to tlie Republicans, who wanted
the United States to quarrel with Great Britain and take
sides with France. They denounced it from one end of the
country to the other, burned copies of it at mass meetings, and
hanged Jay in effigy. For the same reason, also, France took
deep offense.

Treaty with Spain. — Our treaty with Great Britain was fol-
lowed by one with Spain, by which the vexed question of the
Mississippi was put at rest. Spain agreed to withdraw her
troops from all her posts north of the parallel of 31 degrees.
She also agreed that New Orleans should be a port of deposit.
This was of great advantage to the growing West, for the
farmers, thereafter, could float their bacon, flour, lumber, etc.

1 These frigates were not built. They were really intended for use against
the Barbary powers (Morocco, Tunis, Algiers, Tripoli) that were plundering our
Mediterranean commerce. These nations of northeni Africa had long been ac-
customed to prey upon European ships and sell the crews into slavery. To obtain
protection against such treatment the nations of southern Europe paid these
pirates an annual tribute. Some of our ships and sailors were captured, and as
we had no navy with which to protect our commerce, a treaty was made
with Algiers (1795) which bound us to pay a yearly tribute of " twelve thou-
sand Algerine sequins in maritime stores." We shall see what came of this
a few years later.

230

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

down the Ohio and the Mississippi to New Orleans and there
sell it for export to the West Indies or Europe.

The Election of 1796. — Washington, who had twice been
elected President, now declined to serve a third time, and in
September, 1796, announced his determination by publishing
in a newspaper what is called his Farewell Address.^ There

Last page of the autograph copy of Washington's Farewell Address.
In the Lenox Library, New York.

was no such thing as a national party convention in those days,
or for many years to come. The Federalists, however, by
common consent, selected John Adams as their candidate for
President, and most of them supported Thomas Pinckney for

1 In the Farewell Address^ besides giving notice of his retirement,
Washington argued at length against sectional jealousy and party spirit, and
urged the promotion of institutions "for the general diffusion of knowledge.'*
He disapproved of large standing armies ("overgrown military establish-
ments"), and earnestly declared that our true policy is "to steer clear of
permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world," especially Euro-
pean nations. Washington died at Mount Vernon, December 14, 1799.

THE NEW GOVERNMENT 231

Vice President. The Republicans put forward Thomas Jeffer-
son and Aaron Burr and others. The French minister to our
country used his influence to help the Republican candidates ; ^
but when the election was over, it turned out that Adams ^
was chosen President and Jefferson Vice President. Pinckney,
the Federalist candidate for Vice President, was defeated be-
cause he failed to receive the votes of all the Federalist elec-
tors.^

The X. Y. Z. Affair. — The French Directory, a body of five
men that governed the French Republic, now refused to receive
a minister whom Washington had just sent to that country
(Charles C. Pinckney). This deliberate affront to the United
States was denounced by Adams in his first message to Con-
gress ; but he sent to Paris a special commission composed of
two Federalists and one Republican,* in an earnest effort to

•

1 He called on all French citizens living in the United States to wear on
their hats the French tricolor (blue, white, and red) cockade, and of course all
the Kepublican friends of France did the same and made it their party badge.
He next published in the newspapers a long letter in which he said, in sub-
stance, that unless the United States changed its policy toward France it might
expect trouble. This meant that unless a Republican President (Jefferson) was
elected, there might be war between the two countries.

2 John Adams was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1735. He gradu-
ated from Harvard College, studied law, and in 1770 was one of the lawyers
who defended the soldiers that were tried for murder in connection with the
famous "Boston Massacre." He was sent to the First and Second Continental
Congresses, and was a member of the committee appointed to frame the
Declaration of Independence, and of the committee to arrange treaties with
foreign powers. He was for a time associated with Franklin in the ministry to
France ; in 1780 went as minister to Holland ; and in 1783 was one of the
signers of the treaty of peace with Great Britain. In 1785 he was appointed
the first United States minister to Great Britain ; and in 1789-97 was Vice
President.

8 Adams received 71 votes, Jefferson 68, Pinckney 59, Burr 30, and nine
other men also received votes. Under the original Constitution the electors
did not vote separately for President and Vice President. Each cast one bal-
lot with two names on it ; the man receiving the most votes (if a majority of the
number of electors) was elected President, and the man receiving the next high-
est number was elected Vice President. Thus it happened that while the
Federalists elected the President, the Republicans elected the Vice President.

* The Federalists were John Marshall and Charles C. Pinckney. Elbridge
Gerry was the Republican member.

232 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

keep the peace. These commissioners were visited by three
agents of the Directory, who told them that before a new treaty
could be made they must give a present of §50,000 to each
Director, apologize for Adams's denunciation of France, and
loan a large sum (practically pay tribute money) to France.

In reporting this affair to Congress the Secretary of State
concealed the names of the French agents and called them Mr.
X, Mr. Y, and Mr. Z. This gave the affair the name of the
X. Y. Z. Mission.

Preparation for War with France (1798). — The reading of
the dispatches in Congress caused a great change in feeling.
The country had been insulted, and Congress, forgetting
politics, made preparations for war. An army was raised
and Washington made lieutenant general. The Navy Depart-
ment was created and the first Secretary of the Navy ap-
pointed. Ships were built, purchased, ai^ given to the govern-
ment; and with the cry, "Millions for defense, not a cent for
tribute," the people offered their services to the President, and
labored without pay in the erection of forts along the seaboard.
Then was written b}^ Joseph Hopkinson, of Philadelphia, and
sung for the first time, our national song Hail^ Columbia!'^

The Alien and Sedition Acts. — In preparing for war. Congress
had acted wisely. But the Federalists, whom the trouble with
France had placed in control of Congress, also passed the
Alien and Sedition Acts, which aroused bitter opposition.

The Alien Acts were (1) a law requiring aliens, or
foreigners, to live in our country fourteen years before they
could be naturalized and become citizens; (2) a law giving
the President power, for the next two years, to send out of the
country any alien he thought to be dangerous to the peace of
the United States; and (3) the Alien Enemies Act for the expul-
sion, in time of war, of the subjects of the hostile government.

The Sedition Act provided for the punishment of persons
who acted, spoke, or wrote in a seditious manner, that is, opposed

1 Read the account of the popular excitement in McMaster's History of the
People of the U. S., Vol. II, pp. 376-387.

THE NEW GOVERNMENT 233

the execution of any law of the United States, or wrote, printed,
or uttered anything with intent to defame the government of
the United States or any of its officials.

Adams did not use the power given him by the second
Alien Act ; but the Sedition Act was rigorously enforced with
fines and imprisonment. Such interference with the liberty
of the press cost Adams much of his popularity.

The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. — The Republi-
cans were greatly excited by the Alien and Sedition Acts, and
at the suggestion of Jefferson resolutions condemning them as
unconstitutional ^ and hence " utterly void and of no force "
were passed by the legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia.

Seven states answered with resolutions declaring the acts
constitutional. Whereupon, in the following year (1799),
Kentucky declared that when a state thought a law of Con-
gress unconstitutional, that state might veto or nullify it, that
is, forbid its citizens to
obey it. This doctrine of
nullification, as we shall
see, was later of serious
importance.

The Naval War with
France. — Meantime, the
little navy which had been ^L
so hastily prepared was
sent to scour the seas t f •

around the French West
Indies, and in a few months won many victories. ^ The publi-

1 That is, condemning them on the ground that the Constitution did not give
Congress power to make such laws. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
are printed in full in MacDonald's Select Documents, 1776-1861, pp. 149-160.

2 One squadron that captured a number of vessels was under the command
of Captain John Barry. Another squadron under Captain Truxtun captured
sixty French privateers. The Constellation took the French frigate Insurgente
and heat the Vengeance, which escaped ; the Enterprise captured eight priva-
teers and recaptured four American merchantmen ; and the Boston captured
the Berceau. During the war eighty-four armed French vessels were taken by
our navy.

234

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

cation of the X. Y. Z. letters created almost as much in-
dignation in France as in our country, and forced the Directory
to send word that if other commissioners came, they would be
received. Adams thereupon appointed three ; but when they
reached France the Directory had fallen from power. Napoleon
was ruling, and with him a new treaty was concluded in 1800.
The Election of 1800. — The cost of this war made new
taxes necessary, and these, coupled with the Alien and Sedition
Acts, did much to bring about the defeat of the Federalists.

Their candidates for the
presidency and vice presi-
dency were John Adams
and Charles C. Pinckney.
The Republicans nomina-
ted JefPerson ^ and Aaron
Burr, and won. Unfortu-
nately Jefferson and Burr
each received the same
number of votes, so it
became the duty of the
House of Representatives
to determine which should
be President. When the
Thomas Jefferson. jjouse elects a President,

each state, no matter how many representatives it may have,
casts one vote. There were then sixteen states ^ in the Union.

1 Thomas Jefferson was born on a Virginia plantation April 13, 1743, at-
tended "William and Mary College, studied law, and in 1769 became a mem-
ber of the Virginia House of Burgesses. He rose into notice as a defender
of colonial rights, was sent to the Second Continental Congress, and in 1776
wrote the Declaration of Independence. Bet^veen 1776 and 1789 he was a
member of the Virginia legislature, governor of Virginia, member of Congress
(1783-1784), and minister to France (1784-1789). He was a strict construc-
tionist of the Constitution ; he wrote the original draft of the Kentucky Reso-
lutions of 1798, had great faith in the ability of the people to govern themselves,
and dreaded the gi'owth of great cities and the extension of the powers of the
Supreme Court. He and John Adams died the same day, July 4, 1826, the fiftieth
anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

2 Tennessee, the sixteenth, was admitted in 1796.

THE NEW GOVERNMENT 235

The votes of nine, therefore, were necessary to elect. But the
Federalists held the votes of six, and as the representatives of
two more were equally divided, the Federalists thought they
could say who should be President, and tried hard to elect Burr.
Finally some of them yielded and allowed the Republicans to
make Jefferson President, thus leaving Burr to be Vice Presi-
dent.

President Jefferson. — The inauguration took place on March
4, 1801, at Washington, to which city the government was re-
moved from Philadelphia in the summer of 1800.^ Everywhere
the day was celebrated with bell ringing, cannonading, dinners,
and parades. The people had triumphed ; " the Man of the
People" was President. Monarchy, aristocracy, and Feder-
alism, it was said, had received a deathblow.

1 A story is current that on inauguration day Jefferson rode unattended to
the Capitol and tied his horse to the fence before entering tlie Senate Cham-
ber and taking the oath of office. The story was invented by an English
traveler and is pure fiction. The President walked to the Capitol attended by
militia and the crowd of supporters who came to witness the end of the contested
election, and was saluted by the guns of a company of artillery as he entered the
Senate Chamber and again as he came out.

SUMMARY

1. The first Congress under the Constitution passed laws establishing
the executive departments and the United States courts, and other laws
necessary to put the new government in operation.

2. The debts incurred during the Revolution were assumed and funded,
and the permanent seat of government (after 1800) was located on the
Potomac.

3. Import and excise duties were laid, a national bank was chartered,
and a mint was established for coining United States money.

4. In Washington's second term as President (1793-97) there was war
between Great Britain and France, and it was with difficulty that our gov-
ernment succeeded in remaining neutral.

5. Treaties were made with Great Britain and Spain, whereby these
powers withdrew from the posts they held in our country, the right of deposit
at New Orleans was secured, and peace was preserved.

6. A five years' Indian war in the Northwest Territory was ended by
Wayne's victory (1794) and the treaty of Greenville (1795).

236 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

7. The people of western Pennsylvania resisted the excise tax on
whisky, but their insurrection was easily suppressed by a force of militia.

8. Differences on questions of domestic and foreign policy had resulted
in the growth of the Federalist and Republican parties, but party organiza-
tion was imperfect. In 1796 Adams (Federalist) was elected President, and
Jefferson (Republican) Vice President.

9. The British treaty and the election of Adams gave offense to the
French government, which made insulting demands upon our commissioners
sent to that country. A brief naval war in the French West Indies was
ended by a treaty made by a new French government in 1800.

10. The passage of the Alien arnd Sedition Acts brought out protests
against them in what are called the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of
1798-99, one of which claimed the right of a state to nullify an act of Con-
gress which it deemed unconstitutional.

11. In the next presidential election (1800) the Republicans were suc-
cessful; but as Jefferson and Burr had each the same number of votes, the
House of Representatives had to decide which should be President and
which Vice President. After a long contest Jefferson was given the higher
office, as the Republicans had wished.

A silhouette, a kind of portrait often made before 1840.

In the possession of the Concord Antiquarian Society.

CHAPTER XIX
GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY, 1789-1805

Prosperity. — Twelve years had now elapsed since the meet-
ing at New York of the first Congress under the Constitution,
and they had been years of great prosperity.

When Washington took the oath of office, each state
regulated its trade with foreign countries and with its neigh-
bors in its own way, and issued its own paper money, which
it made legal tender. Agriculture was in a primitive stage,
very little cotton was grown, mining was but little practiced,
manufacture had not passed the household stage, trans-
portation was slow and costly, and in all the states but three
banks had been chartered.^

With the establishment of a strong and vigorous govern-
ment under the new Constitution, and the passage of the much-
needed laws we have mentioned, these conditions began to
pass away. Now that the people had a government that could
raise revenue, pay its debts, regulate trade with foreign na-
tions and between the states, enforce its laws, and provide a
uniform currency, confidence returned. Men felt safe to en-
gage in business, and as a consequence trade and commerce
revived, and money long unused was brought out and in-
vested. Banks were incorporated and their stock quickly
purchased. Manufacturing companies were organized and
mills and factories started ; a score of canals were planned
and the building of several was begun ; ^ turnpike companies

1 Read " Town and Country Life in 1800," Chap, xii in McMaster's His-
tory of the People of the U. S., Vol. II.

2 The Middlesex from Boston to Lowell ; the Dismal Swamp in Virginia :
the Santee in South Carolina.

237

238

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

were chartered ; lotteries ^ were authorized to raise money
for all sorts of public improvements, — schools, churches,
wharves, factories, and bridges ; and speculation in stock and
Western land became a rage.

New Industries. — It was during the decade 1790-1800 that
Slater built the first mill for working
cotton yarn ; ^ that Eli Terry began the
manufacture of clocks as a business ;
that sewing thread was first made in our
country (at Pawtucket, R. I.) ; that
Jacob Perkins began to make nails by
machine ; that the first broom was made
from broom corn ; that the first carpet
mill and the first cotton mill were
started ; that Eli Whitney invented the
cotton gin ; and that the first steamboat
went up and down the Delaware.

The Cotton Gin. — Before 1790 the
products of the states south of Virginia
were tar, pitch, lumber, rice, and indigo.
But the destruction of the indigo plants
by insects year after year suggested the cultivation of some

A Terry clock.

1 In those days lotteries for public purposes were not thought wrong. The
Continental Congress and many state legislatures used them to raise revenue.
Congress authorized one to secure money with which to improve Washington
city. Faneuil Hall in Boston and Independence Hall in Philadelphia were
aided by lotteries. Private lotteries had been forbidden by many of the colo-
nies. But the states continued to authorize lotteries for public purposes till
after 1830, when one by one they forbade all lotteries.

2 Parliament in 1774 forbade any one to take away from England any draw-
ing or model of any machine used in the manufacture of cotton goods. No such
machines were allowed in our country in colonial times. In 1787, however, the
Massachusetts legislature voted six tickets in the State Land Lottery to two
Scotchmen named Burr to help them build a spinning jenny. About the same
time £200 was given to a man named Somers to help him construct a machine.
The models thus built were put in the Statehouse at Boston for anybody to
copy who wished, and mills were soon started at Worcester, Beverly, and Provi-
dence. But it was not till 1790, when Samuel Slater came to America, that the
great English machines were introduced. Slater was familiar with them and
made his from memory.

GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY, 1789-1805

239

other crop, and cotton was tried.

To clean it of its seeds by hand

was slow and costly, and to remove

the difficulty Eli Whitney of Massa-
chusetts, then a young man living

in Georgia, invented a machine

called the cotton gin.^ Then the

cultivation of cotton became most

profitable, and the new industry

spread rapidly in the South.

The Steamboat. — The idea of

driving boats through water by

machinery moved by steam was an

old one. Several men had made

such experiments in our country before 1790. ^ But in that

year John Fitch put a
steamboat on the Del-
aware and during four
months ran it regu-
larly from Philadelphia
to Trenton. He was
ahead of his time and
for lack of support was

« . , ^ „.^ ^. ^ ^ ^ forced to give up the en-

Model of Fitch's steamboat. . ° ^

In the National Museum, Washington, tcrprise.

Model of Whitney's cotton gin.

In the National Museum, Washington.

1 Eli Whitney was bom in 1765, and while still a lad showed great skill in
making and handling tools. After graduating from Yale College, he went to

'' reside in the family of General Greene, who had been given a plantation by
Georgia. While he was making the first cotton gin, planters came long dis-
tances to see it, and before it was finished and patented some one broke into
the building where it was and stole it. In 1794 he received a patent, but he
was unable to enforce his rights. After a few years. South Carolina bought his
right for that state, and North Carolina levied a tax on cotton gins for his
benefit. But the sum he received was very small.

2 James Rumsey, as early as 1785, had experimented with a steamboat on
the Potomac, and about the same time John Fitch built one in Pennsylvania,
and succeeded so well that in 1786 and in 1787 one of his boats made trial trips
on the Delaware. Later in 1787 Rumsey ran a steamboat on the Potomac at
the rate of four miles an hour.

MCM. BRIEF 15

240 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

The New West. — In the western country ten years had
wrought a great change. Good times in the commercial states
and the Indian war in the West had done much to keep popula-
tion out of the Northwest Territory from 1790 to 1795. But
from the South population had moved steadily over the moun-
tains into the region south of the Ohio River. The new state
of Kentucky (admitted in 1792) grew rapidly in population.

North Carolina, after ratifying the Constitution, again
ceded her Western territory, and out of this and the narrow
strip ceded by South Carolina, Congress (1790) made the
" Territory of the United States south of the river Ohio." But
population came in such numbers that in 1796 the North Caro-
lina cession was admitted as the state of Tennessee.

In the far South, after Spain accepted the boundary of 31°,
Congress established the territory of Mississippi (1798), con-
sisting of most of the southern half of the present states of
Mississippi and Alabama. Four years later Georgia accepted
her present boundaries, and the territory of Mississippi was
then enlarged so as to include all the Western lands ceded by
South Carolina and Georgia (map, p. 242).

Cleveland. — Jay's treaty, by providing for the surrender of
the forts along the Great Lakes, opened that region to settle-
ment, and in 1796 Moses Cleaveland led a New England colony
across New York and on the shore of Lake Erie laid out the
town which now bears his name. Others followed, and by 1800
there were thirty-two settlements in the Connecticut Reserve.

Detroit. — The chief town of the Northwest was Detroit.
Wayne, who saw it in 1796, described it as a crowded mass of one-
and two-story buildings separated by streets so narrow that two
wagons could scarcely pass. Around the town was a stockade
of high pickets with bastions and cannon at proper distances,
and within the stockade "a kind of citadel." The only en-
trances were through two gates defended by blockhouses at
either end of a street along the river. Every night from
sunset to sunrise the gates were shut, and during this time
no Indian was allowed to remain in the town.

GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY, 1789-1805

241

Indiana Territory. — After Wayne's treaty with the Indians,
five years brought so many people into the Northwest Territory
that in 1800 the western part was cut off and made the separate
territory of Indiana.^ Not 6,000 white people then lived in all
its vast area.

The census of 1800 showed that more than 5,000,000 peo-
ple then dwelt in our country; of these, nearly 400,000 were
in the five Western states and territories — Kentucky, Ten-
nessee, Northwest, Indiana, Mississippi.

Public Land on Credit. — The same year (1800) in which
Congress created the territory of Indiana, it changed the man-
ner of selling the pub-
lic lands. Hitherto
the buyer had been
obliged to pay cash.
After 1800 he might
buy on credit, paying
one quarter annually.
The effect of this was
to bring settlers into
the West in such num-
bers that the state
of Ohio was admitted
in 1803, and the territory of Michigan formed in 1805. ^

France acquires Louisiana. — For yet another reason the year
1800 is a memorable one in our history. When the French
Minister of Foreign Affairs heard that Spain (in 1795) had
agreed that 31° north latitude should be the dividing line be-
tween us and West Florida, he became alarmed. He feared

1 Not the Indiana of to-day-, but the great region including what is now
Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and half of Michigan and Minnesota. The settle-
ments were Mackinaw, Green Bay, Prairie du Chien, Cahokia, Belle Fontaine,
L'Aigle, Kaskaskia, Prairie du Rocher, Fort Massac, and Vincennes. Notice
that rabst of these names are of French origin. The governor was William H.
Harrison, afterward a President.

2 In 1809 Illinois territory was created from the western part of Indiana
territory. When the census was taken in 1810, nearly 1,000,000 people were
living west of the Appalachians.

'V...

^^Settled area in 1790 'N>'-^^

Fv/VjOots indicate regions settled^
t^*:'^ between 1790 and 1810

Settled area in 1810.

GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY, 1789-1805

243

that our next step would be to acquire West Florida, and per-
haps the country west of the Mississippi. To prevent this he
asked Spain to give Louisiana back to France as France had
given it to Spain in 1762 (see page 143) ; France would then
occupy and hold it forever. Spain refused ; but soon after
Napoleon came into power the request was renewed in so
tempting a form that Spain yielded, and by a secret treaty
returned Louisiana to France in 1800.

The Mississippi Closed to our Commerce. — The treaty for a
while was kept secret ; but when it became known that Napoleon
was about to send an army
to take possession of Louisi-
ana, a Spanish official at
New Orleans took away the
"right of deposit" at that
city and so prevented our
citizens from sending their
produce out of the Mississippi
River. This was a violation
of the treaty with Spain,
and the settlers in the val-
ley from Pittsburg to Natchez
demanded the instant seiz-
ure of New Orleans. In-
deed, an attempt was made in Congress to authorize the
formation of an army of fifty thousand men for this very
purpose.

Louisiana Purchased, 1803. — But President Jefferson did
not want war ; instead, he obtained the consent of Congress to
offer $2,000,000 for West Florida and New Orleans. Monroe
was then sent to Paris to aid Livingston, our minister, in mak-
ing the purchase, and much to their surprise Napoleon offered
to sell all Louisiana.^ After some hesitation the offer was
accepted. The price was 115,000,000, of which $11,250,000

1 Read the scene between Napoleon and his brothers over the sale of Louisi-
ana, as told in Adams's History of the U. S., Vol. II, pp. 33-39.

The Cabildo, City Hall of New Orleans.

244 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

was paid to France and f 3,750,000 to citizens of our country
who had claims against France.^

The Boundaries of Louisiana. — The splendid territory thus
acquired had never been given definite bounds. But resting
on the discoveries and explorations of Marquette, Joliet, and
La Salle, Louisiana was understood to extend westward to the
Rio Grande and the Rocky Mountains, and northward to the
sources of the rivers that flowed into the Mississippi. Whether
the purchase included West Florida was doubtful, but we claimed
it, so that our claim extended eastward to the Perdido River.

The Territory of Orleans. — The country having been
acquired, it had to be governed. So much of it as lay west of
the Mississippi and south of 33° north latitude, with the city of
New Orleans and the region round about it, was made the new
territory of Orleans. The rest of the purchase west of the
Mississippi w^as called the territory of Louisiana (map, p. 242).

Louisiana Explored. — When the Louisiana purchase was
made in 1803, most of the country was an unknown land. But
in 1804 an exploring party under Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark ^ went up the Missouri River from St. Louis,

1 The transfer of Louisiana to France took place on November 30, 1803, and the
delivery to us on December 20. Our commissioners William C. C. Claiborne
and James Wilkinson met the French commissioner Laussat (lo-sah') in the
hall of the Cabildo (a building still in existence, p. 243), presented their creden-
tials, received the keys of the city, and listened to Laussat as he proclaimed
Louisiana the property of the United States. This ceremony over, the commis-
sioners stepped out on a balcony to witness the transfer of flags. The tricolor
which floated from the top of a staff in the Place d'Armes (now Jackson
Square) was drawn slowly down and the stars and stripes as slowly raised
till the two met midway, when both were saluted by cannon. Our flag was
then raised to the top of the pole, and that of France lowered and placed
in the hands of Laussat. One hundred years later the anniversary was cele-
brated by repeating the same ceremony. The Federalists bitterly opposed
the purchase of Louisiana. Read McMaster's History of the People of the U. S.,
Vol. II, pp. 629-631. For descriptions of life in Louisiana, read Cable's Creoles
of Louisiana, The Grandissimes, and Strange True Stories of Louisiana.

2 Both Lewis and Clark were Virginians and experienced Indian fighters.
On their return Lewis was made governor of the upper Louisiana territory, later
called Missouri territory; and died near Nashville in 1809. Clark was likewise
a governor of Missouri territory and later a Superintendent of Indian Affairs ;
he died at St. Louis in 1838. He was a younger brother of George Rogers Clark.

GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY, 1789-1805

245

Branding iron used by Lewis.

spent the winter of 1804-5 in what is now North Dakota, crossed
the Rocky Mountains in the summer of 1805, and went down
the Columbia to the Pacific. After passing a winter (1805-6)
near the coast, the party
started eastward in the
spring, recrossed the moun-
tains, and in the autumn
reached St. Louis.

St. Louis was then a little
frontier hamlet of maybe a
thousand people of all sorts
— French, Spanish, Ameri-
can, negro slaves, and Indians.
The houses were built on a
bott(Hn or terrace at the foot
of a limestone cliff and arranged along a few streets with
French names. The chief occupation of the people was the
fur trade, and to them the reports brought back by Lewis
and Clark were so exciting that the St. Louis Fur Company
was organized to hunt and trap on the upper Missouri.

Reforms in the States. — During the years which had passed
since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, great political
reforms had been made. The doctrine that all men are born
politically equal was being put into practice, and the states had
begun to reform their old constitutions or to adopt new ones,
abolishing religious qualifications for officeholders or voters,^
and doing away with the property qualifications formerly re-
quired of voters.2 Some states had reformed their laws for
punishing crime, had reduced the number of crimes punishable
with death from fifteen or twenty to one or two, and had abol-
ished whipping, branding, cutting off the ears, and other cruel
punishments of colonial times. The right of man to life.

1 Pennsylvania, Delaware, South Carolina, Georgia.

2 In Pennsylvania all free male taxpayers could vote. Georgia and Dela-
ware gave the suffrage to all free white male taxpayers. In Vermont and
Kentucky there had never been a property qualification.

246 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

liberty, and the pursuit of happiness was more fully recognized
than ever before.

Reforms in the Federal Government. — When the Republican
party came into power in 1801, it was pledged to make reforms
" to put the ship of state," as Jefferson said, " on the Republi-
can tack." About a third of the important Federalist office-
holders were accordingly removed from office, the annual
speech at the opening of Congress was abolished, and the
written message introduced — a custom followed ever since by
our Presidents. Internal taxes were repealed, the army was
reduced,! the cost of government lessened, and millions of dollars
set aside annually for the payment of the national debt.

That there might never again be such a contested election
as that of 1800, Congress submitted to the states an amend-
ment to the Constitution providing that the electors should
vote for President and Vice President on separate ballots, and
not as theretofore on the same ballot. The states promptly rati-
fied, and as the Twelfth Amendment it went into force in 1804
in time for the election of that year.

Jefferson Reelected. — The Federalist candidates for Presi-
dent and Vice President in 1804 were Charles C. Pinckney and
Ruf us King ; but the Republican candidates, Thomas Jefferson
and George Clinton,^ were elected by a very large majority.

Burr kills Hamilton. — Vice-President Burr, who had con-
sented to be a candidate for the presidency in 1801 (p. 235)
against Jefferson, had never been forgiven by his party, and
had ever since been a political outcast. His friends in New
York, however, nominated him for governor and tried to get
the support of the Federalists, but Hamilton sought to prevent
this. After Burr was defeated he challenged Hamilton to a
duel (July, 1804) and killed him.

1 In 1802, however, there was founded the United States Military Academy
at West Point.

2 Clinton was born in 1739, took an active part in Kevolutionary affairs,
was chosen governor of New York in 1777, and was reelected every election for
eighteen years. He was the leader of the popular party in that state, was twice
chosen Vice President of the United States, and died in that office in 1812.

GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY, 1789-1805

247

Burr's Conspiracy. — Fearing arrest for murder, Burr fled to
Philadelphia and applied to the British minister for British
help in effecting " a separation of the western part of the United
States from that which lies between the
Atlantic and the mountains"; for he
believed the people in Orleans territory
were eager to throw off American rule.
After the end of his term as Vice Presi-
dent (March 4, 1805) Burr went west
and came back with a scheme for con-
quering a region in the southwest,
enlisted a few men in his enterprise,
assembled them at Blennerhassets Island
in the Ohio River (a few miles below
Marietta), and (in December, 1806)
started for New Orleans. The boats
with men and arms floated down the
Ohio, entered the Mississippi, and were
going down that river when General
James Wilkinson, a fellow-conspirator,
betrayed the scheme to Jefferson. Burr was arrested and sent
to Virginia, charged with levying war against the United
States, which was treason, and with setting on foot a military
expedition against the dominions of the king of Spain, which
was a "high misdemeanor." Of the charge of treason Burr
was acquitted; that of high misdemeanor was sent to a court in
Ohio for trial, and came to naught.^

Burr's grave at Princeton,
N.J.

1 Burr's trial was conducted (in a circuit court) with rigid impartiality by
Chief-Justice John Marshall, one of the greatest judges our country has known.
As head of the Supreme Court for thirty-four years (1801-35), he rendered
many decisions of lasting influence.

SUMMARY

1. With the establishment of government under the Constitution, con-
fidence was restored and prosperity began.

2. Banks were chartered by the states, some roads and canals were

248

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

constructed, and money was gathered by lotteries for all sorts of public
improvements.

3. New industries were started, and the cotton gin and other machines
were invented.

4. The defeat of the Indians, the removal of the British and Spanish
from our Western country, and the sale of public land on credit encouraged
a stream of emigrants into the West.

5. Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio entered the Union, and the terri-
tories of Mississippi, Indiana, and Michigan were organized.

6. The cession of Louisiana to France in 1800, and the closing of the
Mississippi River to Americans, led to the purchase of Louisiana in 1803.

7. This great region was organized into the territories of Orleans and
Louisiana ; and the width of the continent from St. Louis to the mouth of
the Columbia was explored by Lewis and Clark.

8. Many reforms were made in the state and national governments
tending to make them more democratic.

9. In 1804 Jefferson was reelected President, but Burr was not again
chosen Vice President. Having engaged in a plan for conquering a region
in the southwest (1806), Burr was arrested for treason, but was not con-
demned.

Pioneer hunter

CHAPTER XX
THE STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL INDEPENDENCE

War with Tripoli. — In his first inaugural Jefferson an-
nounced a policy of peace, commerce, and friendship with all
nations ; but unhappily he was not able to carry it out. Under
treaties with Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis, we had paid tribute
or made presents to these powers, to prevent them from attack-
ing our ships. In 1800, however, when Adams sent the yearly
tribute to Algiers, the ruler of Tripoli demanded a large present,
and when it did not come, declared war. Expecting trouble
with this nest of pirates, Jefferson in 1801 sent over a fleet
which was to blockade the coast of Tripoli and that of any
other Barbary power that might be at war with us. But four
years passed, and Tripoli was five times bombarded before
terms of peace* were dictated by Captain Rodgers under the
muzzles of his guns (1805) .^

Great Britain and France. — While our contest with Tripoli
was dragging along, France and Great Britain again went to
war (1803), and our neutral rights were again attacked. Brit-
ish cruisers captured many American ships on the ground that
they were carrying on trade between the ports of France and
her colonies.

Napoleon attacked British commerce by decrees which
closed the ports of Europe to British goods, declared a blockade
of the British Isles, and made subject to capture any neutral

1 During the war, in 1803, the frigate Philadelphia ran on the rocks in the
harbor of Tripoli, and was captured by the Tripolitans. The Americans then
determined to destroy her. Stephen Decatur sailed into the harbor with a vol-
unteer crew in a little vessel disguised as a fishing boat. The Tripolitans allowed
the Americans to come close, whereupon they boarded the Philadelphia^ drove
off the pirate crew, set the vessel on fire, and escaped unharmed.

249

250 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

vessels that touched at a British port. Great Britain replied
with orders in council, blockading the ports of France and her
allies, and requiring all neutral vessels going to a closed port
to stop at some British port and pay tribute.^

As Great Britain ruled the sea, and Napoleon most of
western Europe, these decrees and orders meant the ruin of our
commerce. Against such rules of war our government pro-
tested, claiming the right of " free trade," or the " freedom of
the seas," — the right of a neutral to trade with either belliger-
ent, provided the goods were not for use in actual war (as guns,
powder, and shot).

Our Sailors Impressed. — But we had yet another cause of
quarrel with Great Britain. She claimed that in time of war
she had a right to the services of her sailors ; that if they were
on foreign ships, they must come home and serve on her war
vessels. She denied that a British subject could become a
naturalized American ; once a British subject, always a British
subject, was her doctrine. She stopped our vessels at sea, exam-
ined the crews, and seized or " impressed " any British sub-
jects found among them — and many American sailors as well.
Against such " impressment " our government set up the claim
of "sailors' rights" — denying the right of Great Britain to
search our ships at sea or to seize sailors of any nationality
while on board an American vessel.

1 The French decrees and British orders in council were as follows : (1) Na-
poleon began (1806) by issuing a decree closing the ports of Hamburg and
Bremen (which he had lately captured) and so cutting off British trade with
Germany. (2) Great Britain retaliated with an order in council (May, 1806),
blockading the coast of Europe from Brest to the mouth of the river Elbe.
(8) Napoleon ret,aliated (November, 1806) with the Berlin Decree, declaring
the British Isles in a state of blockade, and forbidding English trade with any
country under French control. (4) Great Britain issued another order in coun-
cil (November, 1807), commanding her naval officers to seize any neutral ves-
sel going to any closed port in Europe unless it first touched at a British port,
paid duty, and bought a license to trade. (6) Napoleon thereupon (December,
1807) issued his Milan Decree, authorizing the seizure of any neutral vessel
that had touched at any British port and taken out a license. Read Adams's
History of the U. S., Vol. IH, Chap. 16 ; Vol. IV, Chaps. 4, 5, 6 ; McMaster's
History of the People of the U. S,, Vol. IH, pp. 219-223, 249-250, 272-274.

STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL INDEPENDENCE

251

The Attack on the Chesapeake. — Before 1805 Great Britain
confined impressment to the high seas and to her own ports.
After 1805 she carried it on also off our coasts and in our
ports. Finally, in 1807, a British officer, hearing that some
British sailors were among the crew of our frigate Chesapeake
which was about to sail,
only partly equipped,
from the Washington
navy yard, ordered the
Leopard to follow the
Chesapeake to sea and
search her. This was
done, and when Commo-
dore Barron refused to
have his vessel searched,
she was fired on by
the Leopard^ boarded,
searched, and one British
and three American sail-
ors were taken from her
deck.i

Congress Retaliates. —
It was now high time for
us to strike back at France
and Great Britain. We ^*"^

had either to fight for

" free trade and sailors' ^^' Chesapeake surrenders to the Leopard.

rights," or to abandon the sea and stop all attempts to trade
with Europe and Great Britain. Jefferson chose the latter
course. Our retaliation therefore consisted of

1. The Long Embargo (1807-9).

2. The Non-intercourse Act (1809).

3. Macon's Bill No. 2 (1810).

4. The Declaration of War (1812).

iThe British sailor was hanged at Halifax. The three Americans were
not returned till 1812. Read Maclay's History of the Navy, Vol. I, pp. 306-308.

252 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

The Long Embargo. — Late in December, 1807, at the request
of Jefferson, Congress hiid an embargo and cut off all trade
with foreign ports. ^ The restriction was so sweeping and the
damage to farmers, planters, merchants, shipowners, and sailors
so great, that the law was at once evaded. More stringent
laws were therefore enacted, till at last trade along the coast
from port to port was made all but impossible. Defiance to
the embargo laws became so general ^ that a Force Act (1809)
was passed, giving the President authority to use the army and
navy in enforcing obedience. This was too much, and such a
storm of indignation arose in the Eastern states that Congress
repealed the embargo laws (1809) and substituted

The Non-intercourse Act. — This forbade commerce with
Great Britain and France, but allowed it with such countries
as were not under French or British control. If either power
would repeal its orders or decrees, the President was to
announce this fact and renew commerce with that power.

Just at this time the second term of Jefferson ended,^ and
Madison became President (March 4, 1809).*

1 The Federalists ridiculed the embargo as the "terrapin-policy" ; that is,
the United States, like a terrapin when struck, had pulled its head and feet
within its shell instead of fighting. They reversed the letters so that they read
"o-grab-me," and wrote the syllables backward so as to spell " go-bar-' em."

2 Read McMaster's i/is^ory of the People of the U. S., Vol. Ill, pp. 279-338.

2 The people would gladly have given him a third term. Indeed, the legis-
latures of eight states invited him to be a candidate for reelection. In declin-
ing he said, "If some termination to the services of the Chief Magistrate be
not fixed by the Constitution, or supplied by practice, his office, nominally four
years, will in fact become for life ; and history shows how easily that degener-
ates into an inheritance." The examples of Washington and Jefferson estab-
lished an unwritten law against a third term for any President.

* James Madison was born in Virginia in 1751, and educated partly at Prince-
ton. In 1776 he was a delegate to the Virginia convention to frame a state con-
stitution, was a member of the first legislature under it, went to Congress in
1780-83, and then returned to the state legislature, 1784-87. He was one of
the most important members of the convention that framed the United States
Constitution. After the adoption of the Constitution, he led the Republican
party in Congress (1789-97). He wrote the Virginia Resolutions of 1798, and
in 1801-9 was Secretary of State under Jefferson. As the Republican candidate
for President in 1808, he received 122 electoral votes against 47 for the Federal-
ist candidate Charles C. Pinckney. He died in 1836.

STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL INDEPENDENCE 253

The Erskine Agreement (1809). — And now the British minis-
ter, Mr. Erskine, offered, in the name of the king, to lift the
orders in council if the United States would renew trade with
Great Britain. The offer was accepted, and the renewal of
trade proclaimed. But when the king heard of it, he recalled
Erskine and disavowed the agreement, and Madison was forced
to declare trade with Great Britain again suspended.

Macon's Bill No. 2. — Non-intercourse having failed. Congress
in 1810 tried a new experiment, and by Macon's Bill No. 2 (so-
called because it was the second of two bills introduced by Mr.
Macon) restored trade with France and Great Britain. At
the same time it provided that if either power would withdraw
its decrees or orders, trade should be cut off with the other
unless that power also would withdraw them.

Napoleon now (1810) pretended to recall his decrees, but
Great Britain refused to withdraw her orders in council, where-
upon in 1811 trade was again stopped with Great Britain.

The Declaration of War. — And now the end had come.
We had either to submit tamely or to fight. The people de-
cided to fight, and in the elections of 1810 completely changed
the character of the House of Representatives. A large number
of new members were elected, and the control of public affairs
passed from men of the Revolutionary period to a younger set
with very different views. Among them were two men who
rose at once to leadership and remained so for nearly forty
years to come. One was Henry Clay of Kentucky; ^ the other

1 Henry Clay, the son of a Baptist minister, wasl3orn in Virginia in 1777 in
a neighborhood called " the Slashes." One of his boyhood duties was to ride to
the mill with a bag of wheat or corn. Thus he earned the name of "the
Mill Boy * of the Slashes," which in his campaigns for the presidency was
used to get votes. His education was received in a log-cabin schoolhouse. At
fourteen he was behind the counter in a store at Richmond ; but finally began to
read law, and in 1797 moved to Kentucky to "grow up with the country."
There he prospered greatly, and in 1803 was elected to the state legislature,
in 1806 and again in 1809-10 served as a United States senator to fill an
unexpired term, and in 1811 entered the House of Representatives. From then
till his death, June 29, 1852, he was one of the most important men in public life ;
he was ten years speaker of the House, four years Secretary of State, twenty
years a senator, and three times a candidate for President. He was a great

254

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

was John C. Calhoun of South Carolina. Clay was made speaker
of the House of Representatives, and under his lead the House
at once began preparations for war with Great Britain, which
was formally declared in June, 1812. The causes stated by
Madison in the proclamation were (1) impressing our sailors,
(2) sending ships to cruise off our ports and search our ves-
sels, (3) interfering with our trade by orders in council, and
(4) urging the Indians to make war on the Western settlers.

The Battle of Tippecanoe. — That the British had been
tampering with the Indians was believed to be proved by the

preparation of many of the In-
dian tribes for war. From time
to time some Indian of great
ability had arisen and attempted
to unite the tribes in a general
war upon the whites. King
Philip was such a leader, and so
was Pontiac, and so at this time
were the twin brothers Tecumthe
and the Prophet. The purpose
of Tecumthe was to unite all the
tribes from the Great Lakes to the
Gulf of Mexico in a general war,
to drive tlie whites from the
Mississippi valley. After unit-
ing many of the Northern tribes
he went south, leaving his brother, the Prophet, in command.
But the action of the Prophet so alarmed General Harrison,^

leader and an eloquent speaker. He was called "the Great Pacificator" and
" the Great Compromiser," and one of his sayings, " I had rather be right than
be President," has become famous.

1 William Henry Harrison was a son of Benjamin Harrison, a signer of the
Declaration of Independence. He was born in Virginia in 1773, served in the
Indian campaigns under St. Clair and Wayne, commanded Fort Washington
on the site of Cincinnati, was secretary of the Northwest Territory, and then
delegate to Congress, and did much to secure the law for the sale of public land
on credit. He was made governor of Indiana Territory in 1801, and won great
fame as a general in the War of 1812.

^ SCALE OF MILES

** 6 a'o 40 6tt 80 lOo

Vicinity of the Tippecanoe River.

STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL INDEPENDENCE 255

governor of Indiana territory, that he marched against the.^
Indians and beat them at the Tippecanoe' (1811). ^

Madison Reelected. — As Madison was willing to be a war
President the Republicans nominated him for a second term of
the presidency, with Elbridge Gerry 2 for the vice presidency.
The Federalists and those opposed to war, the peace party,
nominated DeWitt Clinton for President. Madison and Gerry
were elected. ^

The War opens. — The war which now followed, "Mr.
Madison's War " as the Federalists called it, was fought along
the edges of our country and on the sea. It may therefore be
considered under four heads : —

1. War on land along the Canadian frontier.

2. War on land along the Atlantic seaboard.

3. War on land along the Gulf coast.

4. War on the sea.

Scarcely had the fighting begun when news arrived that Great
Britain had recalled the hated orders in council, but she
would not give up the right of search and of impressment, so
the war went on, as Madison believed that cause enough still
remained.

, 1 Tecumthe's efforts In the South led to a war with the Creeks in 1813-14.
These Indians began by capturing Fort Mims in what is now southern Alabama,
and killing many people there ; but they were soon subdued by General An-
drew Jackson. Read Edward Eggleston's Boxy; and Eggleston and Seelye*s
Tecumseh and the Shawnee Prophet.

2 Gerry was a native of Massachusetts and one of the delegates who refused
to sign the Constitution when it was framed in 1787. As a leading Republican
he was chosen by Adams to represent his party on the X. Y. Z. Mission. As
governor of Massachusetts he signed a bill rearranging the senatorial districts
in such wise that some towns having Federalist majorities were joined to others
having greater Republican majorities, thus making more than a fair proportion
of the districts Republican. This political fraud is called Gerrymandering.
Gerry died November 23, 1814, the second Vice President to die in office.

8 Eighteen states cast electoral votes at this election (1812). The electors
were chosen by popular vote in eight states, and by vote of the legislature in ten
states, including Louisiana (the former territory of Orleans), which was admit-
ted into the Union April 8, 1812. The admission of Louisiana was bitterly op-
posed by the Federalists. For their reasons, read a speech by Josiah Quincy in
Johnston's American Orations, Vol. I, pp. 180-204.

256

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

Fighting on the Fron-
tier, 1812. — The hope of
the leaders of the war

party, " War Hawks " as the Federalists called them, was to
capture the British provinces north of us and make peace at
Halifax. Three armies were therefore gathered along the
Canadian frontier. One under General Hull was to cross- at
Detroit and march eastward. A second under General Van
Rensselaer was to cross the Niagara River, join the forces under
Hull, capture York (now Toronto), and then go on to Montreal.
The third under General Dearborn was to enter Canada from
northeastern New York, and meet the other troops near Mon-
treal. The three armies were then to capture Montreal and
Quebec and conquer Canada.

But the plan failed ; Hull was driven out of Canada, and
surrendered at Detroit. Van Rensselaer did not got a footing
in Canada, and Dearborn went no farther than the northern
boundary line of New York.

Fighting on the Frontier, 181 3. — The surrender of Hull filled
the people with indignation, and a new army under William

STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL INDEPENDENCE 257

Henry Harrison was sent across the wilds of Ohio in the dead
of winter to recapture Detroit. But the British and Indians
attacked and captured part of the army at Frenchtown on the
Raisin River, where the Indians massacred the prisoners. They
then attacked Fort Meigs and Fort Stephenson, but were
driven off.

Battle of Lake Erie. — Meantime a young naval officer,
Oliver Hazard Perry, was hastily building at Erie (Presque Isle)
a little fleet to attack the British, whose fleet on Lake Erie had
been built just as hurriedly. The fight took place near the
west end of the lake and ended in the capture of all the British
ships. 1 It was then that Perry sent off to Harrison those
familiar words "We have met the enemy and they are ours."^

Battle of the Thames. — This signal victory gave Ferry com-
mand of Lake Erie and enabled him to carry Harrison's army
over to Canada, where, on the Thames River, he beat the British
and Indians and put them to flight.^ By these two victories
of Perry and Harrison we regained all that we had lost by the
surrender of Hull. On the New York frontier neither side
accomplished anything decisive in 1813, though the public
buildings at York (now Toronto) were destroyed, and some
villages on both sides of the Niagara River were burned.

Fighting on the Frontier, 1814. — Better officers were now
put in command on the New York frontier, and during 1814
our troops under Jacob Brown and Winfield Scott captured
Fort Erie and won the battles of Chippewa and Lundys Lane.
But in the end the British, drove our army out of Canada.

1 Perry's flagship was named the Lawrence, after the gallant commander
of the Chesapeake^ captured a short while before off Boston. As Lawrence,
mortally wounded, was carried below, he said to his men, "Don't give up the
ship." Perry put at the masthead of the Lawrence a blue pennant bearing the
words "Don't give up the ship," and fought two of the largest vessels of the
enemy till every gun on his engaged side was disabled, and but twenty men
out of a hundred and three were unhurt. Then entering a boat with his
brother and four seamen, he was rowed to the Niagara^ which he brought into
the battle, and with it broke the enemy's line and won.

2 The story of the naval war is told in Maclay's History of the Navy, Part
Third; and in Roosevelt's iVavaZ War of 1812. •

** In this battle the great Indian leader Tecumthe was killed.

MOM. BRIBF— 16

258

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

Further eastward the British gathered a fleet on Lake
Champlain and sent an army to attack Plattsburg, but Thomas
Macdonough utterly destroyed the fleet in Plattsburg Bay, and
the army was repulsed.

Fighting along the Seaboard. — During 1812 and 1813 the
British did little more than blockade our coast from Rhode
Island to New Orleans, leaving all the east coast of New Eng-
land unmolested.! But in 1814 the entire coast was blockaded,
the eastern part of Maine was seized and occupied, and Ston-
ington in Connecticut was bombarded.

Washington and Baltimore Attacked. — A fleet entered
Chesapeake Bay and landed an army which marched to
Washington, burned the Capitol, the President's house, the

Treasury Building, and
other public buildings,^
and with the aid of the
fleet made a vain attack
on Baltimore.

It was during the bom-
bardment of a fort near
Baltimore that Francis Scott Key, temporarily a prisoner with
the British, wrote The Star-spangled Banner,

Fighting along the Gulf Coast. — After the repulse at Balti-
more the British army was carried to the island of Jamaica to
join a great expedition fitting out for an attack on New Orleans.
It was November before the fleet bearing the army set sail, and
December when the troops landed on the southeast coast of
Louisiana and started for the Mississippi. On the banks of that

1 In New England the ruin of commerce made the war most unpopular, and
it was because of this that the British did not at first blockade the New England
coast. British goods came to Boston, Salem, and other ports in neutral ships,
or in British ships disguised as neutral, and great quantities of them were carried
in four-horse wagons to the South, whence raw cotton was brought back to
New England to be shipped abroad. The Republicans made great fun of this
" ox-and-horse-marine. "

2 For a description of the scenes in Washington, read McMaster's History of
the People of the U. S., Vol. IV, pp. 188-147 ; or Adams's History of the U. S.^
Vol. VIII, pp. 144-152 ; or Memoirs of Dolly Madison^ Chap. 8.

Ruins of the Capitol after the fire.

STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL INDEPENDENCE 259

river, a few miles below New Orleans, they met our forces under
General Andrew Jackson drawn up behind a line of rude in-
trenchments, attacked them on the 8th of January, 1815, and
were badly beaten.

^^^

' ^i2A' ^^^^^H

■

It ..

i^l^^HI

Battle of New Orleans, i^ rom an old print.

The Sea Fights. — The victories won by the army were
indeed important, but those by the navy were more glorious
still. In years before the war British captains laughed at our
little navy and called our ships " fir-built things with a bit of
striped bunting at their mastheads." These fir-built things
now inflicted on the British navy a series of defeats such as it
had never before suffered from any nation.

Before the end of 1812 the frigate Constitution^ " Old
Ironsides'* as she is still popularly called,^ beat the G-uer-
Here (gar-e-ar') so badly that she could not be brought to

^ B«ad Holmes's poem Old Ironsides.

260

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

Cutlass.

port; the little sloop Wasp almost shot to pieces
the British sloop Frolic;^ the frigate United
States brought the Macedonian in triumph to New-
port (R. I.);2 and the Constitution made a wreck
of the Java.

In 1813 the
Hornet^ Com-
mander James
Lawrence, so
riddled the Brit-
ish sloop Pea- Naval cannon of I8I2.

cock that after surrendering she went down
carrying with her nine of her own crew and three
of the Hornefs, The brig Enterprise^ William
Burrows in command, fought the British brig
Boxer^ Captain Blythe, off Portland harbor, Maine.
Both commanders were killed, but the Boxer was taken and
carried into Portland, where Burrows and Blythe, wrapped
in the flags they had so well defended, were buried in the
Eastern Cemetery which overlooks the bay.

1 This battle was fought on a clear moonlight night and was full of dramatic
incidents. A storm had lashed the sea into fury and the waves were running
mountain high. Wave after wave swept the deck of the Wasp and drenched
the sailors. The two sloops rolled till the muzzles of their guns dipped in the
sea ; but both crews cheered heartily and fought on till, as the Wasp rubbed
across the bow of the Frolic, her jib boom came in between the masts of the
Wa^p. A boarding party then leaped upon her bowsprit, and as they ran down
the deck were amazed to see nobody save the man at the wheel and three
wounded officers. As the British were not able to lower their flag. Lieutenant
Biddle of the Wasp hauled it down. Scarcely had this been done when the
British frigate Poictiers came in sight, and chased and overhauled the Wasp
and captured her.

2 Of all the British frigates captured during the war, the Macedonian was
the only one brought to port. The others were shot to pieces and sank or were
destroyed soon after the battle. The Macedonian arrived at Newport in December,
1812. When the lieutenant bearing her flag and dispatches reached Washington,
he was informed that a naval ball was being held in honor of the capture of the
Guerriere and another ship, and that their flags were hanging on the wall. Has-
tening to the hotel, he announced himself and was quickly escorted to the ball-
room, where, with cheers and singing, the flag of the Macedonian was hung
beside those of the other two captured vessels.

STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL INDEPENDENCE 261

The Chesapeake Captured. — But we too met with defeats.
When Lawrence returned home with the Hornet^ he was given
command of the Chesapeake^ then fitting out in Boston harbor,
and while so engaged was challenged by the commander of the
British frigate Shannon to come out and fight. He went, was
mortally wounded, and a second time the Chesapeake struck
to the British. As Lawrence was carried below he cried out,
" Don't give up the ship — keep her guns going — fight her till
she sinks" ; but the British carried her by boarding.

The brig Argus^ while destroying merchantmen off the Eng-
lish coast, was taken by the British brig Pelican}

Peace. — Quite early in the war Russia tendered her services
as mediator and they were accepted by us. Great Britain de-
clined, but offered to treat directly if commissioners were sent
to some neutral port. John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, Albert
Gallatin, James A. Bayard, and Jonathan Russell were duly
appointed, and late in December, 1814, signed a treaty of peace
at Ghent. Nothing was said in it about impressment, search, or
orders in council, nor indeed about any of the causes of the war.

Nevertheless the gain was great. Our naval victories made
us respected abroad and showed us to be the equal of any
maritime power. At home, the war aroused a national feel-
ing, did much to consolidate the Union, and put an end to our
old colonial dependence on Europe. Thenceforth Americans
looked westward, not eastward.

The Hartford Convention. — News of the treaty signed in
December, 1814, did not reach our country till February, 1815.^

1 In October, 1812, the frigate Essex, Captain Porter in command, sailed
from Delaware Bay, cruised down the east and up the west coast of South
America, and captured seven British vessels. But she was captured near Val-
paraiso by the British frigates Cherub and Phoebe in March, 1814. In January,
1815, the President, Commodore Decatur, was captured off Long Island by a
British squadron of four vessels. In February the Constitution, Captain Stew-
art, when near Madeira, captured the Cyane and the Levant.

2 Some idea of the difficulty of travel and the transmission of news in those
days may be gained from the fact that when the agent bearing the treaty of
peace arrived at New, York February 11, 1815, an express rider "was sent post
haste to Boston, at a cost of $225.

262 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

Had there been ocean steamships or cables in those days, two
famous events in our history would not have happened. The
battle of New Orleans would not have been fought, and the
report of the Hartford Convention would not have been pub-
lished. The Hartford Convention was composed of Federalist
delegates from the New England states,^ met in December,
1814, and held its sessions in secret. But its report proposed
some amendments to the United States Constitution, state
armies to defend New England, and the retention of a part of
the federal taxes to pay the cost. Congress was to be asked to
agree to this, and if it declined, the state legislatures were to
send delegates to another convention to meet in June, 1815.2
When the commissioners to present these demands reached
Washington, peace had been declared, and they went home,
followed by the jeers of the nation.

1 The states of Vermont and New Hampshire sent no delegates to this con-
vention ; but three delegates were appointed by certain counties in those states.
When Connecticut and Rhode Island chose delegates, a Federalist newspaper
published in Boston welcomed them in an article headed " Second and Third
Pillars of a New Federal Edifice Reared." Despite the action of the Hartford
Convention, the fact remains that Massachusetts contributed more than her
proportionate share of money and troops for the war.

2 The report is printed in MacDonald's Select Documents.

SUMMARY

1. The war with Tripoli (1801-5) ended in victory for our navy.

2. The renewal of war between France and Great Britain involved us
in more serious trouble.

3. When France attacked British commerce by decrees, Great Britain
replied with orders in council (1806-7). In these paper blockades we were
the chief sufferers.

4. Great Britain claimed a right to take her subjects off American
ships, and while impressing many British sailors into her navy, she im-
pressed many Americans also.

5. She sent vessels of war to our coast to search our ships, and in 1807
even seized sailors on board an American ship of war, the Chesapeake.

6. Congress retaliated with several measures cutting off trade with
France and Great Britain ; these failing, war on Great Britain was declared
in 1812.

STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL INDEPENDENCE 263

7. War on land was begun by attempts to invade Canada from Detroit,
Niagara, and northeastern New York. These attempts failed, and Detroit
was captured by the British.

8. In 1813 Perry won a great naval victory on Lake Erie ; and the
American soldiers, after a reverse at Frenchtown, invaded Canada and won
the battle of the Thames.

9. In 1814 the Americans won the battles of Chippewa and Lundys
Lane, but were later driven from Canada. A British invasion of New York
met disaster at Plattsburg Bay.

10. Along the seaboard the British blockaded the entire coast, seized the
eastern part of Maine, took Washington and burned the public buildings,
and attacked Baltimore.

11. Later New Orleans was attacked, but in 1815 Jackson won a signal
victory and drove the British from Louisiana.

12. On the sea our vessels won many ship duels.

13. Peace was made in 1814, just as the New England Federalists were
holding their Hartford Convention. The war resulted in strengthening the
Union and making it more respected.

Flintlock musket, such as was used in the War of 18x2.

CHAPTER XXI

RISE OF THE WEST

Trade, Commerce, and the Fisheries. — The treaty of 1814
did not end our troubles with Great Britain. Our ships were
still shut out of her West Indian ports. The fort at Astoria,
near the mouth of the Columbia River, had been seized during
the war and for a time was not returned as the treaty required.
The authorities in Nova Scotia claimed that we no longer had
a right to fish in British waters, and seized our fishing vessels
or drove them from the fishing grounds. We had no trade
treaty with Great Britain. In 1815, therefore, a convention
was made regulating trade with Great Britain and her East
Indian colonies, but not with her West Indies;^ in 1817, a very
important agreement limited the navies on the Great Lakes ;2
and in 1818 a convention was made defending our fishing rights
in British waters.^

Banks and the Currency. — But there were also domestic
affairs which required attention. When the charter of the

1 A serious quarrel over the West Indian trade now arose and was not
settled till 1830. Read McMaster's History of the People of the U. S., Vol. V,
pp. 483-487.

2 The agreement of 1817 provided that each power might have one armed
vessel on Lake Ontario, two on the upper lakes, and one on Lake Champlain.
Each vessel was to have but one eighteen-pound cannon. All other armed
vessels were to be dismantled and no others were to be built or armed. In
Europe such a water boundary between two powers would have been guarded
by strong fleets and forts and many armed men.

3 The fishery treaty provides (1) that our citizens may /oret?er catch and dry
fish on certain parts of the coasts of Newfoundland and of Labrador ; (2) that
they may not catch fish within three miles of any other of the coasts of the
British dominions in America ; (3) that our fishermen may enter the harbors on
these other coasts for shelter, or to obtain water, or wood, or to repair damages,
' ' and for no other purpose whatever. "

264

RISE OF THE WEST

265

The first Bank of the United States.

Bank of the United States (p. 224) expired in 1811, it was not
renewed, for the party in power denied that Congress had au-
thority to charter a bank. A host of banks chartered by the
states thereupon sprang
up, in hope of getting
some of the business
formerly done by the
national bank and its
branches.

In three years' time
one hundred and twenty
new state banks were
created. Each issued
bank notes with a prom-
ise to exchange them for
specie (gold or silver coin) on demand. In 1814, however,
nearly all the banks outside of New England "suspended
specie payment"; that is, refused to redeem their notes in
specie. Persons having gold and silver money then kept it,
and the only money left in circulation was the bank notes —
which, a few miles away from the place of issue, would not pass
at their face value. ^

Business and travel were seriously interfered with, and in
order to provide the people with some kind of money which
would pass at the same value everywhere, Congress in 1816
chartered a second Bank of the United States,^ very much like
the first one, for a period of twenty years.

Manufactures and the Tariff. — Before the embargo days,
trade and commerce were so profitable, because of the war in
Europe, that manufactures were neglected. Almost all manu-

1 As to the straits to which people were put for small change, read McMas-
ter's History of the People of the U. S., Vol. IV, pp. 297-298.

2 This bank had branches in the various states, and specie could be had for
its notes at any branch. Hence its notes passed at their face value over all the
country, and became, like specie, of the same value everywhere. Authority to
charter the bank was found in the provision of the Constitution giving Congress
power to " regulate the currency."

266 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

f actured articles — cotton and woolen goods , china, glass, edge
tools, and what not — were imported, from Great Britain chiefly.

But the moment our foreign trade was 'cut off by the
embargo, manufactures sprang up, and money hitherto put
into ships and commerce was invested in mills and factories.
Societies for the encouragement of domestic manufactures were
started everywhere. To wear American-made clothes, walk
in American-made shoes, write on American-made paper, and
use American-made furniture were acts of patriotism which
the people publicly pledged themselves to perform. Thus
encouraged, manufactories so throve and flourished that by
1810 the value of goods made in our country each year was
$173,000,000.

When trade was resumed with Great Britain after the war,
her goods were sent over in immense quantities. This hurt
our manufacturers, and therefore Congress in 1816 laid a tariff
or tax on imported manufactures, for the purpose of keeping
the price of foreign goods high and thus protecting home manu-
factures.

Prosperity of the Country. — Despite the injury done by
British orders, French decrees, the embargo, non-intercourse,
and the war, the country grew more prosperous year by year.
Cities were growing, new towns were being planted, rivers
were being bridged, colleges,^ academies, schools, were spring-
ing up, several thousand miles of turnpike had been built,
and over these good roads better stagecoaches drawn by better
horses carried the mail and travelers in quicker time than ever
before.

Routes to the West. — Goods for Pittsburg and the West
could now leave Philadelphia every day in huge canvas-covered
wagons drawn by four or six horses, and were only twenty
days on the road. The carrying trade in this way was very
great. More than twelve thousand wagons came to Pittsburg
each year, bringing goods worth several millions of dollars.

1 Thirty-nine of our colleges, theological seminaries, and universities were
founded between 1783 and 1820.

RISE OF THE WEST

267

From New York wares and merchandise for the West went in
sloops up the Hudson to Albany, were wagoned to the falls of
the Mohawk, where they were put into " Schenectady boats,"

Routes from Philadelphia and New York to the West.

which were pushed by poles up the Mohawk to Utica. Thence
they went by canal and river to Oswego on Lake Ontario, in
sloops to Lewiston on the Niagara River, by wagon to Buffalo,
by sloop to Westfield on Lake Erie, by wagon to Chautauqua
Lake, and thence by boat down the lake and the Allegheny
River to Pittsburg.

The Steamboat. — The growth of the country and the in-
crease in travel now made the steamboat possible. Before 1807

268

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

all attempts to use such boats had failed.^ But when Fulton
in that year ran the Clermont from New York to Albany
and back, practical steam navigation began. In 1808 a line of

Fainting by E. L. Henry.

An early ferryboat.

steamboats ran up and down the Hudson. In 1809 there was
one on the Delaware, another on the Raritan, and a third on
Lake Champlain. In 1811 a steamboat went from Pittsburg
to New Orleans, and in 1812 there were steam ferryboats
between what is now Jersey City and New York, and between
Philadelphia and Camden. ^

By the use of the steamboat and better roads it was possible

1 For Rumsey and Fitch, see p. 239. William Longstreet in 1790 tried a small
model steamboat on the Savannah River; and in 1794 Elijah Ormsbee at Provi-
dence and Samuel Morey on Long Island Sound, in 1796 John Fitch on a pond in
New York city, in 1797 Morey on the Delavrare, in 1802 Oliver Evans at Phila-
delphia, and in 1804 and 1806 John Stevens at Hoboken, demonstrated that
boats could be moved by steam. But none had made the steamboat a practical
success.

2 The state of New York gave Fulton and his partner, Livingston, the sole
right to use steamboats on the waters of the state. This monopoly was evaded by
using teamboats, on which the machinery that turned the paddle wheel was
moved by six or eight horses hitched to a crank and walking round and round
in a circle on the deck. Teamboats were used chiefly as ferryboats. Read
McMaster's History of the People of the TJ. S., Vol. IV, pp. 397-407.

RISE OF THE WEST 269

in 1820 to go from New York to Philadelphia between sunrise
and sunset in summer, and from New York to Boston in forty-
eight hours, and from Boston to Washington in less than five
days.

The Rush to the West. — After the peace in 1815 came a
period of hard times. Great Britain kept our ships out of
her ports in the West Indies. France, Spain, and Holland
did their own trading with their colonies. Demands for our
products fell off, trade and commerce declined, thousands of
people were thrown out of employment, and another wave of
emigration started westward. Nothing like it had ever before
been known. People went by tens of thousands, building new
towns and villages, clearing the forests, and turning the prairies
into farms and gardens. Some went in wagons, some on
horseback ; great numbers even went on foot, pushing their
children and household goods in handcarts, in wheelbarrows, in
little box carts on four small wheels made of plank. ^

Once on the frontier, the pioneer, the " mover," the " new-
comer," would secure his plot of land, cut down a few trees,
and build a half- faced camp, — a shed with a roof of sapling
and bark, and one side open, — and in this he would live till
the log cabin was finished.

The Log Cabin. — To build a log cabin the settler would
fell trees of the pi'oper size, cut them into logs, and with his
ax notch them half through at the ends. Laid one on another
these logs formed the four sides of the cabin. Openings were

1 Read McMaster's Histoid of the People of the U. S., Vol. IV, pp. 381-394.
All the great highways to the West were crowded with bands of emigrants. In
nine days 260 wagons bound for the West passed through one New York town.
At Easton, in Pennsylvania, on a favorite route from New England (map, p. 194),
511 wagons accompanied by 3066 persons passed in a month. A tollgaLe keeper
on another route reported 2000 families as having passed during nine months.
From Alabama, whither people were hurrying to settle on the cotton lands, came
reports of a migration quite as large. When the census of 1820 was taken, the
returns showed that there were but 75 more people in Delaware in 1820 than
there were in 1810. In the city of Charleston there were 24,711 people in 1810
and 24,780 in 1820. In many states along the seaboard the rate of increase of
population was less during the census period 1810-20 than it had been before,
because of the great numbers who had left for the West.

270

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

left for a door, one window, and a huge fireplace ; the cracks
between the logs were filled with mud ; the roof was of hewn
boards, and the chimney of logs smeared on
the inside with clay and lined at the bottom
with stones. Greased paper did duty for
glass in the window. The door swung on
wooden hinges and was fastened with a wooden
latch on the inside, which was raised from
the outside by a leather string passed through
a hole in the door. Some cabins had no floor
but the earth; in others the floor was of
puncheons, or planks split and hewn from
trunks of trees and laid with the round side
down.^

Pioneer Life. — If the farm were wooded,
the first labor of the settler was to grub up
the bushes, cut down the smaller trees, and
kill the larger ones by cutting a girdle around each near the
roots. When the trees were felled, the neighbors would come
and help roll the logs into great piles for burning. From
the ashes the settler made potash; for many years potash was
one of the important exports of the country.

In the land thus cleared and laid open to the sun the pio-
neer planted his corn, flax, wheat, and vegetables. The corn he
shelled on a gritter, and ground in a handmill, or pounded

Corn-husk mop.

1 If the newcomer chose some settlement for his home, the neighbors would
gather when the logs were cut, hold a " raising," and build his cabin in the
course of one day. Tables, chairs, and other furniture were generally made by
the settler with his own hands. Brooms and brushes were of corn husks, and
many of his utensils were cut from the trunks of trees. "I know of no scene
more primitive," said a Kentucky pioneer, "than such a cabin hearth as that
of my mother's. In the morning a buckeye backlog, a hickory forestick, rest-
ing on stones, with a johnny cake on a clean ash board, set before the fire to
bake ; a frying pan with its long handle resting on a splint-bottom chair, and
a teakettle swung 'from a log pole, with myself setting the table, or turning the
meat. Then came the blowing of the conch-shell for father in the field, the
howling of old Lion, the gathering around the table, the blessing, the dull
clatter of pewter spoons on pewter dishes, and the talk about the crops and
stock."

RISE OF THE WEST

271

in a wooden mortar with a wooden pestle, or carried on horse-
back to some mill perhaps fifteen miles away.

Cooking stoves were not used. Game was roasted by hang-
ing it by a leather string be-
fore an open fire. All bak-
ing was done in a Dutch
oven on the hearth, or in an
out oven built, as its name
implies, out of doors. ^

Deerskin in the early
days, and later tow linen,
woolens, jeans, and linseys,
were the chief materials for
clothing till store goods be-
came common.2 The amuse-
ments of the pioneers were
like those of colonial days —
shooting matches, bear hunts,
races, militia musters, rais-

Breaking flax.

ings, log rollings, weddings, corn huskings, and quilting parties.

Five New States. — The first effect of the emigration to the
West was such an increase of population there that five new
states were admitted in five years. They were Indiana (1816),
Mississippi (1817), Illinois (1818), Alabama (1819), Missouri
(1821). As Louisiana (1812) and Maine (1820) had also been
admitted by 1821, the Union then included twenty-four states"
(map, p. 279).

Power of the West. — A second result of this building of the
West was an increase in its political importance. The West

} For an account of the social conditions in 1820, read McMaster's History
of the People of the U. S., Vol. IV, Chap, xxxvii ; also Eggleston's Circuit
Bider, Cooper's Prairie, and Becollections of Life in Ohio, by W. C. Howells.

2 A story is told of an early settler who was elected to the territorial legis-
lature of Illinois. Till then he had always worn buckskin clothes, but thinking
them unbecoming a lawmaker, he and his sons gathered hazelnuts and bar-
tered them at the crossroads store for a few yards of blue strouding, out of which
the women of the settlement made him a coat and pantaloons.

272

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

in 1815 sent to Congress 8 senators and 23 members of the
House ; after 1822 it sent 18 senators out of 48, and 47 members
of the House out of 213.

Trade of the West. — A third result was a struggle for the
trade of the West. Favored by the river system, the farmers of

Trading with a river merchant.

the West were able to float their produce, on raft and flat-
boat, to New Orleans. Before the introduction of the steam-
boat, navigation up the Mississippi was all but impossible.
Flatboats, rafts, barges, broadhorns, with their contents, were
therefore sold at New Orleans, and the money brought back to
Pittsburg or Wheeling and there used to buy the manufactures
sent from the Eastern states. But now a score of steamboats
went down and up the Mississippi and the Ohio, stopping at
Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, Natchez, and a host of smaller
towns, loaded with goods obtained at Pittsburg and New
Orleans.^ Commercially the West was independent of the

1 On the Ohio River floated odd craft of many sorts. There were timber
rafts from the mountain streams ; pirogues built of trunks of trees ; broadhorns,
huge pointed and covered hulks carrying 50 tons of freight and floating down-

RISE OF THE WEST 273

East. The Western trade of New York, Philadelphia, and
Baltimore was seriously threatened.

The Erie Canal. — So valuable was this trade, and so impor-
tant to the East, that New York in 1817 began the construction
of the Erie Canal from Albany to Buffalo, and finished it in
1825.1 The result, as we shall see in a later chapter, was far-
reaching.

Slavery. — A fourth result of the rush to the West was the
rise of the question of slavery beyond the Mississippi.

Before the adoption of the Constitution, as we have seen,
slavery was forbidden or was in course of abolition in the five
New England states, in Pennsylvania, and in the Northwest
Territory. Since the adoption of the Constitution gradual
abolition laws had been adopted in New York (1799) and in
New Jersey (1804). ^ Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Missis-
stream with the current and upstream by means of poles, sails, oars, or ropes ;
keel boats for upstream work, with long, narrow, pointed bow and stern, roofed,
manned with a crew of ten men, and propelled with setting poles ; flatboats which
went downstream with the pioneer never to come back — flat-bottomed, box-
shaped craft manned by a crew of six, kept in the current by oars 30 feet long
called " sweeps" and a steering oar 50 feet long at the stern. Those intended
to go down the Mississippi were strongly built, roofed over, and known as
" Orleans boats." " Kentucky flatboats" for use on the Ohio were half roofed
and slighter. Mingled with these were arks, galleys, rafts, and shanty boats of
every sort, and floating shops carrying goods, wares, and merchandise to every
farmhouse and settlement along the river bank. Now it would be a floating lot-
tery office, where tickets were sold for pork, grain, or produce ; now a tinner's
establishment, where tinware was sold or mended ; now a smithy, where horses
and oxen were shod and wagons mended •, now a factory for the manufacture of
axes, scythes, and edge tools ; now a dry-goods shop fitted up just as were such
shops in the villages, and filled with all sorts of goods and wares needed by the
settlers.

1 This canal was originally a ditch 4 feet deep, 40 feet wide, and 363 miles
long. The chief promoter was De Witt Clinton. The opponents of the canal
therefore called it in derision "Clinton's big ditch," and declared that it could
never be made a success. But Clinton and his friends carried the canal to com-
pletion, and in 1825 a fleet of canal boats left Buffalo, went through the canal,
down the Hudson, and out into New York Bay. There fresh water brought from
Lake Erie in a keg was poured into the salt water of the Atlantic.

2 It was once hoped that Southern states also would in time abolish slavery ;
but as more and more land was devoted to cotton raising in the South, the
demand for slave labor there increased. The South came to regard slavery as
necessary for her prosperity, and to desire its extension to more territory.

McM. BRIEF — 17

274 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

sippi, and Alabama came into the Union as slave-holding
states ; and Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois (besides Vermont) as
free states. So in 1819 the dividing line between the eleven
free and the eleven slave states was the south boundary line
of Pennsylvania (p. 81) and the Ohio River.

Slavery beyond the Mississippi. — By 1819 so many people
had crossed the Mississippi and settled on the west bank and up
the Missouri that Congress was asked to make a new territory
to be called Arkansas and a new state to be named Missouri.

Whether the new state was to be slave or free was not stated,
but the Missourians owned slaves and a settlement of this matter
was important for two reasons : (1) there were then eleven slave
and eleven free states, and the admission of Missouri would up-
set this balance in the Senate ; (2) her entrance into the Union
would probably settle the policy as to slavery in the remainder
of the great Louisiana Purchase. The South therefore insisted
that Missouri should be a slave-holding state, and the Senate
voted to admit her as such. The North insisted that slavery
should be abolished in Missouri, and the House of Representa-
tives voted to admit her as a free state. As neither would
yield, the question went over to the next session of Congress.

Maine. — By that time Maine, which belonged to Massa-
chusetts, had obtained leave to frame a constitution, and
applied for admission as a free state. This afforded a chance
to preserve the balance of states in the Senate, and Congress
accordingly passed at the same time two bills, one to admit
Maine as a free state, and one to authorize Missouri to make
a proslavery constitution.

The Missouri Compromise, 1820. — The second of these bills
embodied the Missouri Compromise, or Compromise of 1820,
which provided that in all the territory purchased from France
in 1803 and lying north of the parallel 36° 30' there never
should be slavery, except in Missouri (map p. 279). ^

1 Meantime Arkansas (1819) had been organized as a slave-holding territory.
As Missouri had to make a state constitution and submit it to Congress she
did not enter the Union till 1821. The Compromise line 36° 30' was part of the

RISE OF THE WEST

275

This Compromise left a great region from which free states
might be made in future, and very little for slave states. We
shall see the consequences of this by and by.

Exploration of the West. — West of Missouri the country was
still a wilderness overrun by Indians, and by buffalo and other
Avild animals. Many believed it to be almost uninhabitable.

Buffalo running away from a prairie fire.

Pike, who (1806-7) marched across the plains from St. Louis
to the neighborhood of Pikes Peak and on to the upper waters
of the Rio Grande, and Long, who (1820) followed Pike,
brought back dismal accounts of the country. Pike reported
that the banks of the Kansas, the Platte, and the Arkansas riv-
ers might " admit of a limited population," but not the plains.
Long said the country west of Council Bluffs " is almost wholly
unfit for cultivation, and of course uninhabitable by people de-
pending on agriculture," and that beyond the Rockies it was
" destined to be the abode of perfect desolation."

The Great American Desert. ~ This started the belief that
in the West was a great desert, and for many years geographers

south boundary of Missouri and extended to the 100th meridian. Missouri did
not have the present northwestern boundary till 1836 ; compare maps on pp. 279
and 331. On the Compromise read the speech of Senator Rufus King, in John-
ston's American Orations, Vol. II, pp. 33-62 ; and that of Senator Pinckney,
pp. 63-101.

276

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

indicated such a desert on their maps. It covered most of what is
now Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma, and parts of Texas, Colo-
rado, and South Dakota. One geographer (1835) declared; " a
large part maybe likened to the Great Sahara or African Desert."

The Northwestern Boundary. — When Louisiana was pur-
chased in 1803 no boundary was given it on the north or west. •

By treaty with Great Britain in 1818, the 49th parallel
was made our northern boundary from the Lake of the Woods
to the summit of the Rocky Mountains. ^

The Oregon Country. — The country west of the sources of
the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains, the region drained
by the Columbia, or as it was sometimes called, the Oregon
River, was claimed by both Great Britain and the United
States. As neither would yield, it was agreed that the Oregon
country should be held jointly for a time.^

The Spanish Boundary. — South of Oregon and west of the
mountains lay the possessions of Spain, with which country in
1819 we made a treaty, fixing the western limits of the Louisiana
Purchase. We began by claiming as far as the Rio Grande, and
asking for Florida. We ended by accepting the line shown on
the map, p. 278, and buying Florida. ^

1 By the treaty with Great Britain in 1783 a line was to be drawn from the
Lake of the Woods due west to the Mississippi. This was impossible, but the
difficulty was ended by the treaty of 1818. From the northwesternmost point
of the Lake of the Woods a line (as the treaty provides) is drawn due south to
the 49th parallel. This makes a little knob on our boundary.

2 We claimed it because in 1792 Captain Gray, in the ship Columbia, dis-
covered the river, entered, and named it after his ship; because in 1805-6
Lewis and Clark explored both its main branches and spent the winter near its
mouth; and because in 1811 an American fur-trading post, Astoria, was built on
the banks of the Columbia near its mouth. Great Britain claimed a part of it
because of explorations under Vancouver (1792), and occupation of various posts
by the Hudson's Bay Company. At first Oregon was the country drained by
the Columbia River. Through our treaty with Spain, in 1819, part of the 42d
parallel was made the southern boundary. In 1824, by treaty with Russia, the
country which then owned Alaska, 54° 40' became the northern boundary.
The Rocky Mountains were understood to be the eastern limit.

3 What is called the purchase of Florida consisted in releasing Spain from all
liability for damages of many sorts inflicted on our citizens from 1793 to the date
of the treaty, and paying them ourselves ; the sum was not to exceed $5,000,000.

RISE OF THE WEST

277

SUMMARY

1. The treaty of peace in 1814 left several issues unsettled ; it was there-
fore followed by a trade treaty with Great Britain, an agreement to limit
naval power on the northern lakes, and (1818) a treaty about fisheries in
British waters.

2. The suspension of specie payments by the state banks during the
war caused such disorder in the currency that a national bank was chartered
to regulate it.

3. The embargo, by cutting off importation of British goods, encouraged
home manufactures. Heavy importations after the war injured home manu-
factures, and to help them Congress enacted a protective tariff law.

4. Despite commercial troubles and the war, the people were prosperous.
New towns were founded, travel was improved, the steamboat was intro-
duced, and the West grew rapidly.

5. After 1815 a great wave of population poured over the West.

6. Seven new states were admitted between 1812 and 1821.

7. A struggle for the trade of the growing West led to the building of
the Erie Canal.

8. A struggle over slavery led to the Missouri Compromise (1820) .

9. By treaties with Great Britain and Spain, boundaries of the Louisiana
Purchase were established, Florida was purchased, and the Oregon country
was held jointly with Great Britain.

Paintinif by J£. L. Henry,

An old stagecoach

Copyrighi, 1905, by C. KlucJener.

278

,..^o

^cs^^^

THE UNITED STATESP ^\

in 1824 I ^\

8CALF nP MM FS 1 ^

in 1824

SCALE OF MILES

6 iSo 200 300

"200 300 I5o 63o\

279

CHAPTER XXII

THE ERA OF GOOD FEELING

The Party Issues. — The issues which divided the Federal-
ists and the Republicans from 1793 to 1815 arose cliiefly from
our foreign relations. Neutrality, French decrees, British
orders in council, search, impressment, the embargo, non -inter-
course, the war, were the matters that concerned the people.
Soon after 1815 all this changed ; Napoleon was a prisoner at
St. Helena, Europe was at peace, and domestic issues began to
be more important.

The Era of Good Feeling. — The election of 1816, however,
was decided chiefly on the issues of the war. James Monroe,^
the Republican candidate for President, was elected by a very
large majority over Rufus King. During Monroe's term domes-
tic issues were growing up, but had not become national. They
were rather sectional. Party feeling subsided, and this was so
noticeable that his term was called " the Era of Good Feeling."
In this condition of affairs the Federalist party died out, and
when Monroe was renominated in 1820, no competitor appeared.^
The Federalists presented no candidate.

1 James Monroe was a Virginian, born in 1758; he entered William and
Mary College, served in the Continental army, was a member of the Virginia
Assembly, of the Continental Congress for three years, and of the Virginia con-
vention that adopted the Federal Constitution in 1788. He strongly opposed
the adoption of the Constitution. As United States senator (1790-94), he op-
posed Washington's administration ; but was sent as minister to France (1794-96).
In 1799-1802 Monroe was governor of Virginia, and then was sent to France to
aid Livingston in the purchase of Louisiana ; was minister to Great Britain
1804-6, and in 1811-17 was Secretary of State, and in 1814-15 acted also as
Secretary of War. In 1817-25 he was President. He died in 1831.

2 Monroe carried every state in the Union and was entitled to every electoral
vote. But one elector was opposed to him, and voted for John Quincy Adams
instead.

THE ERA OF GOOD FEELING 281

Political Events. — The chief political events of Monroe's
first term (1817-21), as we have seen, were the admission of
several new states, the Compromise of 1820, and the treaties of
1818 and 1819, with Great Britain and Spain. The chief politi-
cal events of his second term (1821-25) were : a dispute over
the disposition of public lands in the new states ; ^ a dispute
over the power of Congress to aid the building of roads and
canals, called " internal improvements " ; the recognition of the
independence of South American colonies of Spain ; the an-
nouncement of the Monroe Doctrine ; the passage of a new
tariff act ; and the breaking up of the Republican party.

The South American Republics. — In 1808 Napoleon invaded
Spain, drove out the king, and placed his brother Joseph Bona-
parte on the throne. Thereupon many of the Spanish colonies
in America rebelled and organized themselves as republics.
When Napoleon was sent to St. Helena, the Spanish king (who
was restored in 1814) brought back most of the colonies to
their allegiance. La Plata, however, rebelled, and was quickly
followed by the others. In 1822 President Monroe recognized
the independence of La Plata (Argentina), Chile, Peru, Colom-
bia, Mexico, and Central America.

The Holy Alliance. — The king of Spain, unable to conquer
the revolted colonies, applied for aid to the Holy Alliance which
was formed by Russia, Prussia, Austria, and France for the pur-
pose of maintaining monarchical government in Europe. For a
while these powers did nothing, but in 1823 they called a con-
ference to consider the question of restoring to Spain her South
American colonies. But the South American republics had
won their independence from Spain, and had been recognized by
us as sovereign powers ; what right had other nations to com-
bine and force them back again to the condition of colonies?
In his annual message (December, 1823) the President there-

1 In the new Western states were great tracts which belonged to the United
States, and which the Western states now asked should be given to them, or at
least be sold to them for a few cents an acre. The East opposed this, and
asked for gifts of Western land which they might sell so as to use the money to
build roads and canals and establish free schools.

282

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

An old-time sofa.

fore took occasion to make certain announcements which have
ever since been called the Monroe Doctrine.^

The Monroe Doctrine. — Referring to the conduct of the

Holy Alliance, he said —

1. That the United
States would not meddle
in the political affairs of
Europe.

2. That European gov-
ernments must not extend

their system to any part of North and South America, nor in
any way seek to control the destiny of any of the nations of
this hemisphere.

As Russia had been attempting to plant a colony on the coast
of California, which was then a part of Mexico, the President
announced (as another part of the doctrine) —

3. That the American continents were no longer open for
colonization by European powers.

The Tariff of 1824.— Failure of the tariff of 1816 to shut
out British manufactures, the hard times of 1819, and the gen-
eral ruin of business led to
a demand for another tariff
in 1820. To this the cotton
states were bitterly opposed.
In the South there were no
manufacturing centers, no
great manufacturing indus-
tries of any sort. The plant-
ers sold their cotton to
the North and (chiefly) to
Great Britain, from which they bought almost all kinds of man-
ufactured goods they used. Naturally, they wanted low duties
on their imported articles; just, enough tax to support the
government and no more.

In the North, especially in towns now almost wholly given

iRead McMaster'3 History of the People of the U. S., Vol. V, pp. 28-64.

An old-time piano.

THE ERA OF GOOD FEELING 283

up to manufactures, as Lynn and Lowell and Fall River and
Providence and Cohoes and Paterson and others ; in regions
where the farmers were raising sheep for wool ; in Pennsyl-
vania, where iron was mined ; and in Kentucky, where the
hemp fields were, people wanted domestic manufactures pro-
tected by a high tariff.

The struggle was a long one. At each session of Congress
from 1820 to 1824 the question came up. Finally in 1824 a
new tariff for protection was enacted despite the efforts of the
South and part of New England.

Breaking up of the Republican Party. — Though the three
questions of internal improvements, the tariff, and the use
of the public lands led to bitter disputes, they did less to
break up the party harmony than the action of the leaders.
After the second election of Monroe the question of his suc-
cessor at once arose. The people of Tennessee nominated
Andrew Jackson ; South Carolina named the Secretary of
War, Calhoun ; Kentucky wanted Henry Clay, who had long
been speaker of the House of Representatives ; the New
England states were for John Quincy Adams, the Secretary
of State. Finally the usual party caucus of Republican mem-
bers of Congress nominated Crawford of Georgia, the Secretary
of the Treasury.

The Election of 1824-25. — The withdrawal of Calhoun
from the race for the presidency left in it Adams, Clay, Craw-
ford, and Jackson, representing the four sections of the country
— Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest. As no one had
a majority of the electoral votes, it became the duty of the
House of Representatives to elect one from the three who had
received the highest votes. ^ They were Jackson, Adams, and
Crawford. The House chose Adams,^ who was duly inaugurated

1 Jackson had 99 votes, Adams 84, Crawford 41, and Clay 37. The Consti-
tution (Article XII of the amendments) provides that if no person have a
majority of the electoral votes, "then from the persons having the highest
numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as President, the
House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. "

2 By a vote of 13 states, against 7 for Jackson, and 4 for Crawford.

284 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

in 1825.1 The electoral college had elected Calhoun Vice
President.^

The Charge of Corruption. — The friends of Jackson were
bitterly disappointed by his defeat. He was " the Man of the
People," had received the highest number of electoral votes
(though not a majority), and ought, they said, to have been
elected by the House. That he had not been elected was
due, they claimed, to a bargain : Clay was to urge his friends
to vote for Adams ; if elected, Adams was to make Clay
Secretary of State. No such bargain was ever made. But
after Adams became President he appointed Clay Secretary of
State, and then the supporters of Jackson were convinced that
the charge was true.

Rise of New Parties. — The legislature of Tennessee,
therefore, at once renominated Jackson, and about him gathered
all who, for any reason, disliked Adams and Clay, all who were
opposed to the tariff and internal improvements, or wanted " a
man of the people " for President. They were called Jackson
men, or Democratic Republicans.

Adams, it was well known, would also be renominated, as

1 John Quincy Adams was born at Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1767, went
with his father John Adams to France, and spent several years abroad ; then
graduated from Harvard, studied law, and was appointed by Washington min-
ister to the Netherlands and then to Portugal, and in 1797 to Prussia. He
was a senator from Massachusetts in 1803-8. In 1809 Madison sent him as min-
ister to Russia, where he was when the war opened in 1812. Of the five com-
missioners at Ghent he was the ablest and the most conspicuous. In 1815
Madison appointed him minister to Great Britain, and in 1817 he came home to
be Secretary of State under Monroe. In 1831 he became a member of the House
of Representatives and continued as such till stricken in the House with paral-
ysis in February, 1848.

2 John Caldwell Calhoun was born in South Carolina in 1782, entered Yale
College in 1802, studied law, and became a lawyer at Abbeville, South Carolina,
in 1807. In 1808 he went to the legislature, and in 1811 entered Congress, and
was appointed chairman of the committee on foreign relations. As such he
wrote the report and resolutions in favor of war with Great Britain. At this
period of his career he favored a liberal construction of the Constitution, and
supported the tariff of 1816, the charter of the Second Bank of the United States,
and internal improvements. He was Secretary of War in Monroe's Cabinet, and
was Vice President from 1825 until 1832, when he resigned and entered the
Senate, where he remained most of the time till his death in 1850.

Letter written by Jackson, then a senator.
285

286 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

the candidate of the supporters of the tariff and internal im-
provements. They were the Adams men, or National Republi-
cans. Thus was the once harmonious Republican party broken
into fragments, out of which grew two distinctly new parties.

The Tariff of 1828. — The act of 1824 not proving satisfac-
tory to the growers and manufacturers of wool,, a new tariff law
was enacted in 1828. So many and so high were the duties
laid that the opponents of protection named the law the Tariff
of Abominations. To the cotton states it was particularly hate-
ful, and in memorials, resolutions, and protests they declared
that a tariff for protection was unconstitutional, unjust, and
oppressive. They made threats of ceasing to trade with the
tariff states, and talked of nullifying, or refusing to obey the
law, and even of leaving the Union.

The Election of 1828. — Great as was the excitement in the
South over this new tariff law, it produced little effect in the
struggle for the presidency. The campaign had really been
going on for three years past and would have ended in the elec-
tion of Jackson had the tariff never existed. " Old Hick6ry,"
the " Hero of New Orleans," the " Man of the People," was
more than ever the favorite of the hour, and though his party
was anti-tariff he carried states where the voters were deeply
interested in the protection of manufactures. Indeed, he received
more than twice the number of electoral votes cast for Adams. ^

1 This election is noteworthy also as the first in which nearly all the states
chose electors by popular vo'te. Only two of the twenty-four states made the
choice by vote of the legislature ; in the others the popular vote for Jackson elect-
ors numbered 647,276 and that for Adams electors 508,064. A good book on
presidential elections is A History of the Presidency, by Edward Stan wood.

SUMMARY

1. After the election of Monroe (1816) the Federalist party died out,
the old party issues disappeared, and Monroe's term is known as the Era
of Good Feeling.

2. The South American colonies of Spain, having rebelled, formed re-
publics, and were recognized by the United States. To prevent interfer-
ence with them by European powers, especially by the Holy Alliance,
Monroe announced the doctrine now known hy his name (1823).

THE ERA Oh^ GOOD FEELING

287

3. The growth of the West and the rise of new states brought up the
question of internal improvements at national expense.

4. The growth of manufactures brought up the question of more pro-
tection and a new tariff. In 1824 a new tariff law was enacted, in spite of
the opposition of the South, which had no manufactures and imported
largely from Great Britain.

5. These issues, which were largely sectional, and the action of certain
leaders, split the Republican party, and led to the nomination of four presi-
dential candidates in 1824.

6. The electors failed to choose a President, but did elect a Vice Presi-
dent. Adams was then elected President by the House of Representatives.

7. A new tariff was enacted in 1828, though the South opposed it even
more strongly than the tariff of 1824.

8. In 1828 Jackson, one of the candidates defeated in 1824, was elected
President.

~- -r-r^^-

A Conestoga wagon, such as was in use about 1825.

CHAPTER XXIII

POLITICS FROM 1829 TO 1841

In many respects the election of Jackson ^ was an event of as
much political importance as was the election of Jefferson.
Men hailed it as another great uprising of the people, as another
triumph of democracy. They acted as if the country had been
delivered from impending evil, and hurried by thousands to
Washington to see the hero inaugurated and the era of prom-
ised reform opened.^

1 Andrew Jackson was bom in Waxhaw, North Carolina, 1767, but always
considered himself a native of South Carolina, for the place of his birth was on the
border of the two states. During the Revolution a party of British came to the
settlement where Jackson lived. An officer ordered the boy to clean his boots,
and when Jackson refused, struck him with a sword, inflicting wounds on his
head and arm. Andrew and his brothers were taken prisoners to Camden. His
mother obtained his release and shortly after died while on her way to nurse the
sick prisoners in Charleston. Left an orphan, Jackson worked at saddlery, taught
school, studied law, and went to Tennessee in 1788; was appointed a district
attorney, in 1796 was the first representative to Congress from the state of
Tennessee, and in 1797 became one of its senators. In 1798-1804 he was one
of the judges of the Tennessee supreme court. His military career began in
1813-14, when he beat the Indians in the Creek War. In 1814 he was made
a major general, in 1815 won the battle of New Orleans, and in 1818 beat
the Seminoles in Florida. He was the first governor of the territory of Florida.
He died in June, 1845. Read the account of Jackson's action in the Seminole
War and the execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, in McMaster's History of
the People of the U. S., Vol. IV, pp. 439-456.

2 The inauguration was of the simplest kind. Uncovered, on foot, escorted
by the committee in charge, and surrounded on both sides by gigs, wood wagons,
hacks full of women and children, and followed by thousands of men from all
parts of the country, Jackson walked from his hotel to the Capitol and on the
east portico took the oath of office. A wild rush was then made by the people
to shake his hand. With difficulty the President reached a horse and started
for the White House, " pursued by a motley concourse of people, riding,
running helter-skelter, striving who should first gain admittance." So great
was the crowd at the White House that Jackson was pushed through the drawing
room and would have been crushed against the wall had not his friends linked
arms and made a barrier about him. The windows had to be opened to enable
the crowd to leave the room.

288

POLITICS FROM 1829 TO 1841

289

The New Party. — Jackson treated the public offices as the
"spoils of victory," and within a few weeks hundreds of post-
masters, collectors of revenue, and other officeholders were turned
out, and their places given
to active workers for Jack-
son. This " spoils system "
was new in national politics
and created immense excite-
ment. But it was nothing
more than an attempt to
build up a new national
party in the same way that
parties had already been
built up in some of the
states. 1

Jackson as President. —
In many respects Jackson's
administration was the most
exciting the country had yet
experienced. Never since
the days of President John
Adams had party feeling run so high. The vigorous person-
ality of the President, his intense sincerity, his determination
to do, at all hazards, just what he believed to be right, made
him devoted friends and bitter enemies and led to his ad-
ministration being often called the Reign of Andrew Jackson.
The question^ with which he had to deal were of serious impor-
tance, and on the solution of some of them hung the safety of
the republic.

The South Carolina Doctrine. — Such a one was the old issue

General Andrew Jackson.

1 Editors of newspapers that supported Jackson were given office or were
rewarded with public printing, and a party press devoted to the President was
thus established. To keep both workers and newspapers posted as to the policy
of the administration, there was set up at Washington a partisan journal for which
all officeholders were expected to subscribe. The President, ignoring his secre-
taries, turned for advice to a few party leaders whom the Adams men nicknamed
the " Kitchen Cabinet,"

290 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

of the tariff. The view of the South as set forth by the leaders,
especially by Calhoun of South Carolina, was that the state
ought to nullify the Tariff Act of 1828 because it was uncon-
stitutional. ^ Daniel Webster attacked this South Carolina
doctrine and (1830) argued the issue with Senator Hayne of
South Carolina. The speeches of the two men in the Senate,
the debate which followed, and the importance of the issue,
make the occasion a famous one in our history. That South
Carolina would go so far as actually to carry out the doctrine
and nullify the tariff did not seem likely. But the seriousness
of South Carolina alarmed the friends of the tariff, and in 1832
Congress amended the act of 1828 and reduced the duties.

South Carolina nullifies the Tariff. — This did not satisfy
South Carolina. The new tariff still protected manufactures,
and it was protection that she opposed ; and in November, 1832,
she adopted the Ordinance of Nullification, which forbade any
of her citizens to pay the tariff duties after February 1, 1833.

When Congress met in December, 1832, the great question
was what to do with South Carolina. Jackson was determined
the law should be obeyed,^ sent vessels to Charleston harbor,
and asked for a Force Act to enable him to collect the revenue
by force if necessary. ^

The Great Debate. — In the course of the debate on the
Force Act, Calhoun (who had resigned the vice presidency and

1 Calhoun maintained (1) that the Constitution is a compact or contract be-
tween the states ; (2) that Congress can only exercise such power as this com-
pact gives it ; (3) ttiat when Congress assumes power not given it, and enacts a
law it has no authority to enact, any state may veto, or nullify, that law, that is,
declare it not a law within her boundary ; (4) that Congress has no authority
to lay a tariff for any other purpose than to pay the debts of the United States ;
(5) that the tariff to. protect manufactures was therefore an exercise of power
not granted by the Constitution. This view of the Constitution was held by the
Southern states generally. But as the two most ardent expounders of it were
Hayne and Calhoun, both of South Carolina, it was called the South Carolina
doctrine.

2 On the anniversary of Jefferson's birthday, April 13, 1830, a great dinner
was given in Washington at which nullification speeches were made in response
to toasts. Jackson was present, and when called on for a toast offered this :
" Our Federal Union, it must be preserved."

3 Read McMaster's History of the People of the U. S., Vol. VI, pp. 153-163.

POLITICS FROM 1829 TO 1841

291

had been elected a senator from South Carolina) explained and
defended nullification and contended that it was a peaceable
and lawful remedy and a proper exercise of state rights. Web-
ster ^ denied that the
Constitution was a mere
compact, declared that
nullification and seces-
sion were rebellion, and
upheld the authority and
sovereignty of the Union .^
The Compromise of
1833. — Clay meantime
came forward with a com-
promise. He proposed
that the tariff of 1832
should be reduced grad-
ually till 1842, when all
duties should be twenty
per cent on the value of
the articles imported.

Birthplace of Daniel Webster.

As such duties would not be protective, Calhoun and the other
Southern members accepted the plan, and the Compromise

1 Daniel Webster was born in New Hampshire in 1782, graduated from Dart-
mouth, studied law, wrote some pamphlets, and made several Fourth of July
orations, praising the Federal Constitution and denouncing the embargo. In'
1813 he entered Congress as a representative from New Hampshire, but lost his
seat by removing to Boston in 1816. In 1823 Webster returned to Congress as a
representative from one of the Massachusetts districts, rose at once to a place
of leadership, and in 1827 entered the United States Senate. By this time he
was famous as an orator. Passages from his speeches were recited by school-
boys, and such phrases as " Our country, our whole country, and nothing but our
country," "Thank God, I, I also, am an American," "Independence now,
and Independence forever ! " passed into everyday speech. In his second
reply to Hayne of South Carolina, defending and explaining the Constitution
(p. 290), he closed with the words "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and
inseparable." In 1836 he received the electoral vote of Massachusetts for the
presidency. He was a senator for many years, was twice Secretary of State,
and died in October, 1852.

2 Read the speeches of Calhoun in Johnston's American Orations, Vol. I,
pp. 303-319.

292 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

Tariff was passed in March, 1833.1 Xo satisfy the North
and uphold the authority of the government, the Force Act
also was passed. But as South Carolina repealed the Ordi-
nance of Nullification there was never any need to use
force.

First National Nominating Conventions. — In the midst of
the excitement over the tariff, came the election of 1832. Since
1824, when the Republican party was breaking up, presidential
candidates had been nominated by state legislatures and cau-
cuses of members of state legislatures. But in 1831 the Antima-
sons ^ held a convention at Baltimore, nominated William Wirt
and Amos EUmaker for President and Vice President, and so
introduced the national nominating convention.

The example thus set was quickly followed: in December,
1831, a national convention of National Republicans nominated
Clay (then a senator) for President, and John Sergeant for Vice
President. In May, 1832, a national convention of Jackson
men, or Democrats as some called them, nominated Martin Van
Buren for Vice President. There was no need to renominate
Jackson, for in a letter to seme friends he had already declared
himself a candidate, and many state legislatures had made the
nomination. He was still the idol of the people and was re-
elected by a greater majority than in 1828.

The Bank Attacked. — One of the issues in the campaign was
the recharter of the Bank of the United States, whose charter
was to expire in 1836. Jackson always hated that institution,

1 Shortly before February 1, 1833, the day on which nullification was to
go into effect, the South Carolina leaders met and suspended the Ordinance
of Nullification till March 3, the last day of the session of Congress. This, of
course, they had no power to do. The state authorities did not think it wise to
put the ordinance in force till they saw what Congress would do with the
tariff.

2 In 1826 a Mason named William Morgan, living at Batavia, in western
New York, threatened to reveal the secrets of masonry. But about the time
bis book was to appear, he suddenly disappeared. The Masons were accused of
having killed him, and the people of western New York denounced them at
public meetings as members of a society dangerous to the state. A parly
pledged to exclude Masons from public office was quickly formed and soon
spread into Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New England, where it became very strong.

POLITICS FROM 1829 TO 1841 293

had attacked it in his annual messages, and had vetoed (1832)
a recharter bill passed (for political effect) by Clay and his
friends in Congress.

Removal of the Deposits. — Jackson therefore looked upon
his reelection as a popular approval of his treatment of the bank.
He continued to attack it, and in 1833 requested the Secretary
of the Treasury, William Duane, to remove the deposits of
government money from the bank and its branches. When
Duane refused, Jackson turned him out of office and put in
Roger B. Taney, who made the removal.^

The Senate passed resolutions, moved by Clay, censuring the
President for this action; but Senator Benton of Missouri
said that he would not rest till the censure was expunged.
Expunging now became a party question ; state after state in-
structed its senators to vote for it, and finally in 1837 the
Senate ordered a black line to be drawn around the resolutions
and the words " Expunged by order of the Senate " to be writ-
ten across them.

Rise of the Whig Party. — The hatred which the National
Republicans felt for Jackson was intense. They accused him
of trying to set up a despotic government, and, asserting that
they were contending against the same kind of tyranny our
forefathers fought against in the War of Independence, they
called themselves Whigs. In the state elections of 1834 the
new name came into general use, and thenceforth for many
years there was a national Whig party.

The Antislavery Movement. — The Missouri Compromise
was supposed to have settled the issue of slavery. But its
effect was just the reverse. Antislavery agitators were aroused.
The antislavery newspapers grew more numerous and aggres-
sive. New antislavery societies were formed and old ones were

1 This so-called removal consisted in depositing the revenue, as it was col-
lected, in a few state banks, the "pet banks," — instead of in the United
States Bank as before, — and gradually drawing out the money on deposit with
the United States Bank. Read an account of the interviews of Jackson with
committees from public meetings in McMaster's History of the People of the
U.S., Vol. VI, pp. 200-204.

McM. BRIEF — 18

294

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

revived and became aggressive, and in 1833 delegates from
many of them met at Philadelphia and formed the American
Antislavery Society. ^

Antislavery Documents. — The field of work for the anti-
slavery people was naturally the South. That section was

flooded with newspapers,
pamphlets, pictures, and
handbills intended to stir
up sentiment for instant
abolition of slavery and
liberation of the slaves.
Against this the South
protested, declared such
documents were likely to
cause slaves to run away or
rise in insurrection, and
called on the North to sup-
press them.

Proslavery Mobs. — To
stop their circulation by
legal means was not possible; so attempts were made to do
it by illegal means. In many Northern cities, as Philadelphia,
New York, Boston, Utica, and elsewhere, mobs broke up the
antislavery meetings. In Charleston, South Carolina, the
postmaster seized some antislavery documents and the people
burned them. At Cincinnati the newspaper office of James
G. Birney was twice sacked and his presses destroyed (1836).
Another at Alton, Illinois, was four times attacked, and the
owner, Elijah Lovejoy, was at last killed by the mob while
protecting his press.

The Right of Petition. — Not content with this, the pro-
slavery people attempted to pass a bill through Congress (1836)

1 The principles of this new society, formulated by William Lloyd Garrison,
were : (1) that each state had a right to regulate slavery within its boundaries ;
(2) that Congress should stop the interstate slave trade ; (3) that Congress
should abolish slavery in the territories and ia the District of Columbia ; (4) that
Congress should admit no more slave states into the Union.

Slave quarters on a Southern plantation.

POLITICS FROM 1829 TO 1841 295

to exclude antislavery documents from the mails, and even
attacked the right of petition. The bill to close the mails to
antislavery documents failed. But the attempt to exclude
antislavery petitions from the House of Representatives suc-
ceeded: a " Gag Rule " was adopted which forbade any petition,
resolution, or paper relating in any way to slavery or the aboli-
tion of slavery to be received, and this was in force down to
1844.1

Our Country out of Debt. — Despite all this political commo-
tion our country for years past had prospered greatly. In this
prosperity the government had shared. Its income had far
exceeded its expenses, and by using the surplus year by year
to reduce the national debt it succeeded in paying the last dollar
by 1835.

The Surplus. — After the debt was extinguished a surplus
still remained, and was greatly increased by a sudden specula-
tion in public lands, so that by the middle of 1836 the govern-
ment had more than $40,000,000 of surplus money in the banks.

What to do with the money was a serious question, and
all sorts of uses were suggested. But Congress decided that
from the surplus as it existed on January 1,1837, $5,000,000
should be subtracted and the remainder distributed among the
states in four installments.^

The Election of Van Buren. — When the time came to
choose a successor to Jackson, a Democratic national convention
nominated Martin Van Buren, with Richard M. Johnson for
Vice President. The Whigs were too disorganized to hold a
national convention ; but most of them favored William Henry
Harrison for President. Van Buren was elected (1836) ; but
no candidate for Vice President received a majority of the
electoral vote. The duty of choosing that ofl&cer therefore

1 Head Whittier's poem A Summons — " Lines written on the adoption of
Pinckney's Resolutions."

2 The surplus on January 1, 1837, was $42,468,000. The amount to be dis-
tributed therefore was $37,468,000. Only three installments (a little over
.$28,000,000) were paid. For the use the states made of the money, read McMas-
ter's History of the People of the U. S., Vol. VI, pp. 351-358.

296

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

passed to the United States Senate, which elected Richard M.
Johnson.

The Era of Speculation. — On March 4, 1837, Van Buren i
entered on a term made memorable by one of the worst panics
our country has experienced. From 1834 to 1836 was a period
of wild speculation. Money was plentiful and easy to borrow,
and was invested in all sorts of schemes by which people ex-
pected to make fortunes. Millions of acres of the public land
were bought and held for a rise in price. Real estate in the
cities sold for fabulous prices. Cotton, timber lands in Maine,
railroad, canal, bank, and state stocks, and lots in Western

towns which had no existence save on
paper, all were objects of speculation.
Panifc of 1837. — Money used for
these purposes was borrowed largely
from the state banks, and much of it
was the surplus which the govern-
ment had deposited in the banks.
When, therefore, in January, 1837,
the government drew out one quarter
of its surplus to distribute among the
states, the banks were forced to stop
making loans and call in some of the
money they had lent. This hurt busi-
ness of every sort. Quite unexpect-
edly the price of cotton fell ; this ruined many. Business
men failed by scores, and the merchants of New York ap-

New York merchant, 1837.

1 Martin Van Buren was bom in New York state in 1782, studied law, began
his political career at eighteen, and held several offices before he was sent to
the state senate in 1812. From 1815 to 1819 he was attorney general of New
York, became United States senator in 1821, and was reelected in 1827 ; but
resigned in 1828 to become governor of New York. Jackson appointed him
Secretary of State in 1829 ; but he resigned in 1831 and was sent as minister to
Great Britain. The appointment was made during a recess of the Senate, which
later refused to confirm the appointment, and Van Buren was forced to come
home. Because of this " party persecution " the Democrats nominated him for
Vice President in 1832, and from 1833 to 1837 he had the pleasure of presiding over
the body that had rejected him. He died in 1862.

POLITICS FROM 1829 TO 1841 297

pealed to Van Buren to assemble Congress and stop the fur-
ther distribution of the surplus. Van Buren refused, and the
banks of New York city suspended specie payment, that is, no
longer redeemed their notes in gold and silver. Those in every
other state followed, and a panic swept over the country. ^

The New National Debt. — With business at a standstill,
the national revenues fell off; and the desperate financial state
of the country forced Van Buren to call Congress .together in
September. By that time the third installment of the surplus
had been paid to the states, and times were harder than ever.
To mend matters Congress suspended payment of the fourth
installment, and authorized the debts of the government to be
paid in treasury notes. This put our country again in debt,
and it has ever since remained so.

Political Discontent. — As always happens in periods of
financial distress, liard times bred political discontent. The
Whigs laid all the blame on the Democrats, who, they said, had
destroyed the United States Bank, and by their reckless financial
policy had caused the panic and the hard times. Whether this
was true or not, the people believed it, and various state elec-
tions showed signs of a Whig victory in 1840.^

1 Specie payment was resumed in the autumn of 1838 ; but most of the
banks again suspended in 1839, and again in 1841. Read the account of the
panic in McMaster's History of the People of the U. S., Vol. VI, pp. 398-406.

2 Financial distress was not the only thing that troubled Van Buren's ad-
ministration. During 1837 many Canadians rebelled against misrule, and began
the "Patriot War" in their country. One of their leaders enlisted aid in
Buffalo, and seized a Canadian island in the Niagara River. The steamer Caro-
line was then run between this island and the New York shore, carrying over
visitors, and, it was claimed, guns and supplies. This was unlawful, and one
night in December, 1837, a force of Canadian government troops rowed over to
the New York shore, boarded the Caroline^ and destroyed her ; it was a dis-
puted question whether she was burned and sunk, or whether she was set afire
and sent over the Falls. The whole border from Vermont to Michigan became
greatly excited over this invasion of our territory. Men volunteered in the
" Patriot " cause, supplies and money were contributed, guns were taken from
government arsenals, and raids were made into Canada. Van Buren sent Gen-
eral Scott to the frontier, did what he could to preserve peace and neutrality, and
thus made himself unpopular in the border states. There was also danger of war
over the disputed northern boundary of Maine. State troops were sent to the

298 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNIOJS

The Log-Cabin Campaign. — The Whigs in their national
convention nominated William Henry Harrison and John
Tyler. The Democrats renominated Van Buren, but named
no one for the vice presidency. The antislavery people, in
hopes of drawing off from the Whig and Democratic
parties those who were opposed to slavery, and so making
a new party, nominated James G. Birney.

The Whig convention did not adopt a platform, but an
ill-timed sneer at Harrison furnished just what they needed.
He would, a Democratic newspaper said, be more at home
in a log cabin drinking cider than living in the White
House as President. The Whigs hailed this sneer as an insult
to the millions of Americans who then lived, or had once lived,
or whose parents had dwelt in log cabins, and made the cabin
the emblem of their party. Log cabins were erected in every
city, town, and village as Whig headquarters ; were mounted
on wheels, were drawn from place to place, and lived in by
Whig stump speakers. Great mass meetings were held, and
the whole campaign became one of frolic, song, and torchlight
processions.^ The people wanted a change. Harrison was an
ideal popular candidate, and " Tippecanoe ^ and Tyler too " and
a Whig Congress were elected.

Death of Harrison; Tyler President (1841). — As soon as
Harrison was inaugurated, a special session of Congress was

territory in dispute, along the Aroostook River (1839 ; map, p. 316) ; but Van
Buren made an unpopular agreement with the British minister, whereby the
troops were withdrawn and both sides agreed not to use force.

1 In the West, men came to these meetings in huge canoes and wagons of
all sorts, and camped on the ground. At one meeting the ground covered by
the people was measured, and allowing four to the square yard it was estimated
about 80,000 attended. Dayton, in Ohio, claimed 100,000 at her meeting. At
Bunker Hill there were 60,000. In the processions, huge balls were rolled along
to the cry, " Keep the ball a^roUing." Every log cabin had a barrel of hard cider
and a gourd drinking cup near it. On the walls were coon skins, and the latch-
string was always hanging out. More than a hundred campaign songs were
written and sung to popular airs. Every Whig wore a log-cabin medal, or breast-
pin, or badge, or carried a log-cabin cane. Read McMaster's History of the
People of the U. S., Vol. VI, pp. 550-588.

2 The battle fought in 1811, meaning Harrison, the victor in that battle. See
note on p. 254.

POLITICS FROM 1829 TO 1841 299

called to undo the work of the Democrats. But one month
after inauguration day Harrison died, and when Congress
assembled, Tyler ^ was President.

1 John Tyler was born in Virginia in 1790 and died in 1862. At twenty-one
he was elected to the legislature of Virginia, was elected to the House of Repre-
sentatives in 1821, and favored the admission of Missouri as a slave state. In
1825 he became governor of Virginia, and in 1827 was elected to- the United
States Senate. There he opposed the tariff and internal improvements, sup-
ported Jackson, but condemned his proclamation to the nuUifiers, voted for the
censure of Jackson, and when instructed by Virginia to vote for expunging, re-
fused and resigned from the Senate in 1836.

SUMMARY

1. The inaugnration of Jackson was followed by the introduction of
the "spoils system" into national politics.

2. The question of nullification was debated in the Senate by Webster
and Hayne. Under Calhoun's leadership, South Carolina nullified the tariff
of 1832. Jackson asked for a Force Act ; but the dispute was settled by the
Compromise of 1833.

3. Jackson vigorously opposed the Bank of the United States, and after
his reelection he ordered the removal of the government deposits.

4. This period is notable in the history of political parties for (1) the
introduction of the national nominating convention, (2) the rise of the Whig
party, (3) the formation of the antislavery party.

5. Slavery was now a national issue. An attempt was made to shut
antislavery documents out of the mails, and antislavery petitions were shut
out of the House of Representatives.

6. Financially, Jackson's second term is notable for (1) the payment
of the national debt, (2) the growth of a great surplus in the treasury,
(3) the distribution of the surplus among the states.

7. The manner of distributing the surplus revenue among the states
interrupted a period of wild speculation and brought on the panic of 1837.

8. Van Buren, who succeeded Jackson as President, called a special ses-
sion of Congress; and the fourth installment of the surplus was withheld.

9. Financial distress, liard times, and general discontent led to a de-
mand for a change; and the log-cabin, hard-cider campaign that followed
ended with the election of Harrison (1840).

CHAPTER XXIV

GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1820 TO 1840

Population. — When Harrison was elected in 1840, the popu-
lation of our country was 17,000,000, spread over twenty-
six states and three
territories. Of these
millions several hun-
dred thousand had
come from the Old
World. No records
of such arrivals were
kept before 1820 ;
since that date care-
ful records have been
made, and from them

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^^Settled area in 1810 V/'-^

|v.v;..|Dots indicate regions settled \
t^i:^ between 1810 and 1840 ^

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Settled area in 1840.

it appears that between 1820 and 1840 about 750,000 immi-
grants came to our shores. They were chiefly from Ireland,
England, and Germany. ^

West of the mountains were over 6,000,000 people ; yet
but two Western states, Arkansas (1836) and Michigan (1837),
had been admitted to the Union since 1821 ; and but two new
Western territories, Wisconsin and Iowa, had been organized.
This meant that the Western states already admitted were filling
up with population. 2

The Public Lands. — The rise of new Western states brought
up the troublesome question, What shall be done with the pub-

1 In the early thirties much excitement was aroused by the arrival of hun-
dreds of paupers sent over from England by the parishes to get rid of them.
But when Congress investigated the matter, it was found not to be so bad as rej)-
resented, though a very serious evil.

'-^ Life in the West at this period is well described in Eggleston's Hoosier
Schoolmaster and The Graysons.

300

GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1820 TO 1840

301

A public school of early times.

lie lands ? ^ The Contineiital Congress had pledged the coun-
try to sell the lands and use the money to pay the debt of the
United States. Much was sold for this purpose, but Congress
set aside one thirty-sixth part of the public domain for the use
of local schools.^ As the Western states made from the public
domain had received land grants for schools, many of the
Eastern states about 1821 asked for grants in aid of their
schools. The Western states objected, and both then and in
later times asked that all the public lands within their borders
be given to them or sold to them for a small sum. After 1824

1 The credit system of selling lands (p. 241) was abolished in 1820, because
a great many purchasers could not pay for what they bought.

2 The public domain is laid off in townships six miles square. Each town-
ship is subdivided into S6 sections one mile square, and the sixteenth section in
each township was set apart in 1785 for the use of schools in the township.
This provision was applied to new states erected from the public domain down
to 1848 ; in states admitted after that time both the sixteenth and the thirty-
sixth sections have been set apart for this purpose. In addition to this, before
1821, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana had each
received two entire townships for the use of colleges and academies.

302 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

efforts were made by Benton and others to reduce the price of
land to actual settlers.^ But Congress did not adopt any of
these measures. After 1830, when the public debt was nearly
paid, Clay attempted to have the money derived from land
sales distributed among all the states. The question what to
do with the lands was discussed year after year. At last in
1841 (while Tyler was President) Clay's bill became a law with
the proviso that the money should not be distributed if the
tariff rates were increased. The tariff rates were soon increased
(1842), and but one distribution was made.

The Indians. — Another result of the filling up of the coun-
try was the crowding of the Indians from their lands. They
had always been regarded as the rightful owners of the soil
till their title should be extinguished by treaty. Many such
treaties had been made, ceding certain areas but reserving
others on which the whites were not to settle. But population
moved westward so rapidly that it seemed best to set apart a
region beyond the Mississippi and move all the Indians there
as quickly as possible.^ In 1834, therefore, such a region, an
" Indian Country," was created in what was later called Indian
Territory, and the work of removal began.

In the South this proved a hard matter. In Georgia the
Creeks and Cherokees refused for a while to go, and by so
doing involved the federal government in serious trouble with
Georgia and with the Indians. In 1835 an attempt to move
the Seminoles from Florida to the Indian Country caused a
war which lasted seven years and cost millions of dollars.^

1 After the Indian title to land was extinguished, the land was surveyed and
offered for sale at auction. Land which did not sell at auction could be pur-
chased at private sale for $1.25 an acre. Benton proposed that land which did
not sell at private sale within five years should be offered at 60 cents an acre,
and if not sold, should be given to any one who would cultivate it for three years.

2 An attempt to remove the Indians in northern Illinois and in Wisconsin
led to the Black Hawk War in 1832. The Indians had agreed to go west, but
when the settlers entered on their lands. Black Hawk induced the Sacs and
Foxes to resist, and a short war was necessary to subdue them.

3 The leader was Osceola, a chief of much ability, who perpetrated several
massacres before he was captured. In 1837 he visited the camp of General

GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1820 TO 1840 303

Internal Improvements. — Another issue with which the
growth of the West had much to do was that of government
aid to roads, canals, and railroads. Much money was spent
on the Cumberland Road ; ^ but in 1817 Madison vetoed a bill

The National Road.

appropriating money to be divided among the states for in-
ternal improvements, and from that time down to Van
Buren's day the question of the right of Congress to use money
for such purposes was constantly debated in Congress.^

The States build Canals and Roads. — All this time popu-
lation was increasing, the West was growing, interstate trade
was developing, new towns and villages were springing up, and
farms increasing in number as the people moved to the new
lands. The need of cheap transportation became greater and
greater each year, and as Congress would do nothing, the states
took upon themselves the work of building roads and canals.

What a canal could do to open up a country was shown
when the Erie Canal was finished in 1825 (see p. 273). So

Jesup under a flag of trace, and was seized and sent to Fort Moultrie, near
Charleston, where he died. His followers were beaten (1837) in a hard-fought
battle by Colonel Zachary Taylor, but kept up the war till 1842,

1 When Ohio was admitted (p. 241), Congress promised to use a part of the
money from the sale of land to build a road joining the Potomac and Ohio rivers.
Work on the National Road, as it was called, was started in 1811. It began at
Cumberland on the Potomac and reached the Ohio at Wheeling. But Ohio,
Indiana, and Illinois demanded that the road be extended, and in time it was
built through Columbus and Indianapolis to Vandalia. Thence it was to go to
Jefferson City in Missouri ; but a dispute arose as to whether it should cross
the Mississippi at Alton or at St. Louis, and work on it was stopped.

2 Jackson vetoed several bills for internal improvements, and the hostility
of his party to such a use of government money was one of the grievances of
the Whigs.

304

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

many people by that time had settled along its route, that the
value of land and the wealth of the state were greatly increased.^
The merchants of New York could then send their goods up
the Hudson, by the canal to Buffalo, and then to Cleveland or
Detroit, or by Chautauqua Lake and the Allegheny to Pitts-
burg, for about one third of what it cost before the canal was
opened (maps, pp. 267, 279). Buffalo began to grow with great
rapidity, and in a few years its trade had reached Chicago. In
1839 eight steamboats plied between these two towns.

A Trip on a Canal Packet. — Passengers traveled on the
canal in packet boats, as the}^ were called. The hull of such

' a craft was eighty feet
long and eleven feet wide,
and carried on its deck a
long, low house with flat
roof and sloping sides.
In each side were a dozen
or more windows with
green blinds and red cur-
tains. When the weather
was fine, passengers sat
on the roof, reading, talk-
ing, or sewing, till the
man at the helm called
"Low bridge I" when
everybody would rush
down the steps and into
the cabin, to come forth once more when the bridge was passed.
Walking on the roof when the packet was crowded was impos-
sible. Those who wished such exercise had to take it on the
towpath. Three horses abreast could drag a packet boat some
four miles an hour.

Western Routes. — Aroused by the success of the Erie
Canal, Pennsylvania began a great highway from Philadelphia

1 For a description of life in central New York, read My Own Story ^ by
J. T. Trowbridge.

Locks on the Erie Canal, Lockport, N.Y.

GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1820 TO 1840

305

to Pittsburg. As planned, it was to be part canal and part
turnpike over the mountains. But before it was completed,
railroads came into use, and when finished, it was part railroad,
part canal. Not to be outdone by New York and Pennsylvania,
the people of Baltimore began the construction (1828) of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the first in the country for the
carriage of passengers and freight.^ Massachusetts, alarmed at
the prospect of losing her trade with the West, appointed
(1827) a commission and an engineer to select a route for a
railroad to join Boston and Albany. Ohio had already com-
menced a canal from Cleveland to the Ohio.^

Early Railroads. — The idea of a public railroad to carry
freight and passengers was of slow growth,^ but once it was

1 The first railroad in our country was used in 1807, at Boston, to carry
earth from a hilltop to grade a street. Others, only a few miles long, were soon
used to carry stone and coal from quarry and mine to the wharf — in 1810 near
Philadelphia, in 1826 at Quincy (a little south of Boston), in 1827 at Mauchchunk
(Pennsylvania). All of these were private roads and carried no passengers.

2 While the means of travel were improving, the inns and towns even along
the great stage routes had not improved. '' When you alight at a country
tavern," said a traveler, "it is

ten to one you stand holding
your horse, bawling for the
hostler while the landlord looks
on. Once inside the tavern
every man, woman, and child
plies you with questions. To
get a dinner is the work of
hours. At night you are put
into a room with a dozen others
and sleep two or three in a bed.
In the morning you go outside
to wash your face and then re-
pair to the barroom to see your
face in the only looking glass the tavern contains." Another traveler complains
that at the best hotel in New York there was neither glass, mug, cup, nor car-
pet, and but one miserable rag dignified by the name of towel.

8 As early as 1814 John Stevens applied to New Jersey for a railroad char-
ter, and when it was granted, he sought to persuade the New York Canal Com-
mission to build a railroad instead of a canal. In 1823 Pennsylvania granted
Stevens and his friends a charter to build a railroad from Philadelphia to the
Susquehanna. In 1825 Stevens built a circular road at Hoboken and used a
steam locomotive to show the possibility of such a means of locomotion. But
all these schemes were ahead of the times.

Mansion House, 39 Broadway, New York, in 1831.

306 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

started more and more miles were built every year, till by 1835
twenty-two railroads were in operation. The longest of them
was only one hundred and thirty-six miles long; it extended
from Charleston westward to the Savannah River, opposite
Augusta. These early railroads were made of wooden beams
resting on stone blocks set in the ground. The upper surface
of the beams, where the wheels rested, was protected by long
strips or straps of iron spiked to the beam. The spikes often
worked loose, and, as the car passed over, the strap would curl
up and come through the bottom of the car, making what was
called a "snake head."

Painted by E. L. Henry. Copyright, 190i, by C. Klackner.

An early railroad.

What should be the motive power, was a troublesome ques-
tion. The horse was the favorite ; it sometimes pulled the car,
and sometimes walked on a treadmill on the car. Sails were
tried also, and finally locomotives. ^

Locomotives could not climb steep grades. When a hill
was met with, the road had to go around it, or if this was not
possible, the engine had to be taken off and the cars pulled up

1 The friends of canals bitterly opposed railroads as impractical. Snow, it
was said, would block them for weeks. If locomotives were used, the sparks
would make it impossible to carry hay or other things combustible. The boilers
would blow up as they did on steamboats. Canals were therefore safer and
cheaper. Read McMaster's History of the People of the U.S., Vol. VI, pp. 87-89.

GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1820 TO 1840

307

To Pittsburg

or let down an inclined plane by means of a rope and stationary
engine. 1

A Trip on an Early Railroad. — A traveler from Philadel-
phia to Pittsburg, in 1836, would set off about five o'clock
in the morning for what was called the depot. There his bag-
gage would be piled on the roof of a car, which was drawn by
horses to the foot of an inclined plane on the bank of the
Schuylkill. Up this
incline the car would
be drawn by a station-
ary engine and rope
to the top of the river
bank. When all the
cars of the train had
been pulled up in this
way, they would be
coupled together and
made fast to a little
puffing, wheezing lo-
comotive without cab
or brake, whose tall
smokestack sent forth
volumes of wood
smoke and red-hot
cinders. At Lancas-
ter (map, p. 267) the
railroad ended, and
passengers went by
stage to Columbia on the Susquehanna, and then by canal
packet up that river and up the Juniata to the railroad at the
foot of the mountains.

1 Almost all the early roads used this device. There was one such inclined
plane at Albany ; another at Belmont, now in Philadelphia ; a third on the
Paterson and Hudson Railroad near Paterson ; and a fourth on the Baltimore
and Ohio. When Pennsylvania built her railroad over the Allegheny Mountains,
many such planes were necessary, so that the Portage Railroad, as it was called,
was a wonder of engineering skill.

RAH. ROAD CARS

AND

THE WESTERN TRANSPORTATION COMPANY

{1.CECU, ROBjinrs tf roL^jrvs lute)

::iit.-;r'iLr'';::'.'..r;":jit.;

■ UA lik'nn-M..

Prl(«*t* HARRISBVBC,

LEWISTOWN

HOLIOAVSBVIICS....
PrrTSBVRC

Handbill of a Philadelphia transportation
company, of 1835.

308

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

The mountains were crossed by the Portage Railroad, a
series of inclined planes and levels somewhat like a flight of
steps. At Johnstown, west of the Alleghenies, the traveler
once more took a canal packet to Pittsburg. ^

The West builds Railroads and Canals. — Prior to 1836 most
of the railroads and canals were in the East. But in 1836 the
craze for internal improvements raged in Indiana, Illinois, and
Michigan, and in each an elaborate system of railroads and
canals was planned, to be built by the state. Illinois in this
way contracted a debt of 115,000,000 ; Indiana, $10,000,000,
and Michigan, $5,000,000.

But scarcely was work begun on the canals and railroads
when the panic of 1837 came, and the states were left with
heavy debts and unfinished public works that could not pay
the cost of operating them. Some defaulted in the payment
of interest, and one even repudiated her bonds which she had
issued and sold to establish a great bank.

The Mails. — As the means of transportation improved, the
mails were carried more rapidly, and into more distant parts of

the country. By 1837 it was pos-
sible to send a letter from New
York to Washington in one day,
to New Orleans in less than
seven days, to St. Louis in less
than five days, and to Buffalo in
three days ; and after 1838 mail
was carried by steamships to Eng-
land in a little over two weeks.

Ocean Steamships. — In the
month of May, 1819, the steam-
ship Savannah left the city of
that name for Liverpool, Eng-

1 The state built the railroads, like the canals, as highways open to every-
body. At first no cars or motive power, except at the inclined planes, were
supplied. Any car owner could carry passengers or freight who paid the state
two cents a mile for each passenger and $4.92 for each car sent over the rails.
After 1836 the state provided locomotives and charged for hauling cars.

The Savannah.

GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1820 TO 1840 309

landj and reached it in twenty-five days, using steam most of
the way. She was a side-wheeler with paddle wheels so ar-
ranged that in stormy weather they could be taken in on deck.i

No other steamships crossed the Atlantic till 1838, when
the Sirius reached New York in eighteen days, and the
Q-reat Western in sixteen days from England. Others fol-
lowed, in 1839 the Cunard line was founded, and regular steam
navigation of the Atlantic was established.

Express. — Better means of communication made possi-
ble another convenience, of which W. F. Harnden was the
originator. He began in 1839 to carry pack-
ages, bundles, money, and small boxes be-
tween New York and Boston, traveling by
steamboat and railroad. At first two carpet-
bags held all he had to carry; but his business
increased so rapidly that in 1840 P. B. Burke
and Alvin Adams started a rival concern
which became the Adams Express Company.

Mechanical Development. — The greater
use of the steamboat, the building of rail- Carpetbag,

roads, and the introduction of the steam locomotive, were but a
few signs of the marvelous industrial and mechanical develop-
ment of the times. The growth and extent of the country,
the opportunities for doing business on a great scale, led to a
demand for time-saving and labor-saving machinery.

One of the characteristics of the period 18^0-40, there-
fore, is the invention and introduction of such machinery.
Boards were now planed, and bricks pressed, by machine. It
was during this period that the farmers began to give up the
flail for the thrashing machine ; that paper was extensively

1 The captain of a schooner, seeing her smoke, thought she was a ship on
fire and started for her, "but found she went faster with fire and smoke
than we possibly could with all sails set. It was then that we discovered that
what we supposed a vessel on fire was nothing less than a steamboat crossing
the Western Ocean." In June, when off the coast of Ireland, she was again
mistaken for a ship on fire, and one of the king's revenue cutters was sent to
. her relief and chased her for a day.

IfOM. BKIEF — 19

310 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

made from straw ; that Fairbanks invented the platform scales ;
that Colt invented the revolver ; that steel pens were made by
machine; and that a rude form of friction match was intro-
duced. ^

Anthracite coal was now in use in the large towns and
cities, and grate and coal stoves were displacing open fires and
wood stoves, just as gas was displacing candles and lamps.

The Cities and Towns. — The increase of manufacturing in
the northeastern part of the country caused the rise of large
towns given up almost exclusively to mills and factories and
the homes of workmen. 2 The increase of business, trade, and
commerce, and the arrival of thousands of immigrants each year,
led to a rapid growth of population in the seaports and chief
cities of the interior. This produced many changes in city
life. The dingy oil lamps in the streets, lighted only when
the moon did not shine, were giving way to gas lights. The con-
stable and the night watch-
man with his rattle were
being replaced by the police-
man. Such had been the in-
crease in population and area
New York omnibus. 1830. ^f ^j^^ ^j^^^f ^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^

From a print of the time. c i 2

means oi cheap transporta-
tion about the streets was needed, and in 1830 a line of
omnibuses was started in New York city. So well did it suc-
ceed that other lines were started ; and three years later omni-
buses were used in Philadelphia.

1 A common form was known as the loco-foco. In 1835 the Democratic
party in New York city was split into two factions, and on the night for the
nomination of candidates for ofl&ce one faction got possession of the hall by using
a back door. But the men of the other faction drove it from the room and
were proceeding to make their nominations when the gas was cut off. For
this the leaders were prepared, and taking candles out of their pockets lit them
with loco-foco matches. The next morning a newspaper called them "Loco-
Focos," and in time the name was applied to a wing of the Democratic party.

2 Good descriptions of life in New England are Lucy Larcom's New England
Girlhood; T. B. Aldrich's Story of a Bad Boy ; and E. E. Hale's New England
Boyhood.

GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1820 TO 1840 311

The Workingman. — The growth of manufactures and the
building of works of internal improvement produced a demand
for workmen of all sorts, and thousands came over, or were
brought over, from the Old World. The unskilled were em-
ployed on the railroads and canals ; the skilled in the mills,
factories, and machine shops.

As workingmen increased in number, trades unions were
formed, and efforts were made to secure better wages and a
shorter working day. In this they succeeded : after a long
series of strikes in 1834 and 1835 the ten-hour day was adopted
in Philadelphia and Baltimore, and in 1840, by order of Presi-
dent Van Buren, went into force " in all public establishments "
under the federal government.

The South. — No such labor issues troubled the southern
half of the country. There the laborer was owned by the man
whose lands he cultivated, and strikes, lockouts, questions of
wages, and questions of hours were unknown. The mills, fac-
tories, machine shops, the many diversified industries of the
Northern states were unknown. In the great belt of states
from North Carolina to the Texas border, the chief crop was
cotton. These states thus had two common bonds of union;
the maintenance of the institution of negro slavery, and the
development of a common industry. As the people of the free
states developed different sorts of industry, they became less
and less like the people of the South, and in time the two
sections were industrially two separate communities. The in-
terests of the people being different, their opinions on great
national issues were different and sectional.

Reforms. — As we have seen, a great antislavery agitation
(p. 293) occurred during the period 1820-40. It was only
one of many reform movements of the time. State after state
abolished imprisonment for debt, ^ lessened the severity of laws
for the punishment of crime, extended the franchise,^ or right

1 Read Whittier's Prisoner for Debt.

2 In Rhode Island many efforts to have the franchise extended came to
naught. The old colonial charter was still in force, ajid under it no man could

312 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

to vote, reformed the discipline of prisons, and established hos-
pitals and asylums. So eager were the people to reform any-
thing that seemed to be wrong, that they sometimes went to
extremes. 1 The antimasonic movement (p. 292) was such a
movement for reform ; the Owenite movement was another.
Sylvester Graham preaching reform in diet, Mrs. Bloomer advo-
cating reform in woman's dress, and Joseph Smith, who founded
Mormonism, were but so many advocates of reform of some sort.

Owen believed that poverty came from individual owner-
ship, and the accumulation of more money by one man than
by another. He believed that people should live in com-
munities in which everything — lands, houses, cattle, products
of the soil — are owned by the community; that the individual
should do his work, but be fed, housed, clothed, educated,
and amused by the community. Owen's teachings were well
received, and Owenite communities were founded in many
places in the West and in New York, only to end in failure. ^

Mormonism had better fortune. Joseph Smith, its founder,
published in 1830 the Book of Mormon^ as an addition to the

vote unless he owned real estate worth $134 or renting for $7 a year, or.
was the eldest son of such a "freeman.'* After the Whig victory in 1840, how-
ever, a people's party was organized, and adopted a state constitution which
extended the franchise, and under which Thomas W. Dorr was elected governor.
Dorr attempted to seize the state property by force, and establish his govern-
ment; but his party and his state oflBcials deserted him, and he was arrested,
tried, found guilty of treason, and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was
finally pardoned, and in 1842 a state constitution was regularly adopted, and the
old charter abandoned.

1 In New York many people were demanding a reform in land tenure. One
of the great patroonships granted by the Dutch West India Company (p. 72) still
remained in the Van Rensselaer family. The farmers on this vast estate paid
rent in produce. When the patroon, Stephen Van Rensselaer, died in 1839', the
heir attempted to collect some overdue rents; but the farmers assembled, drove
off the sheriff, and so compelled the government to send militia to aid the sheriff.
The Anti-rent War thus started dragged on till 1846, during which time riots,
outrages, some murders, and much disorder took place. Again and again the
militia were called out. In the end the farmers were allowed to buy their
farms, and the old leasehold system was destroyed. Cooper's novels The Red-
skins^ The Chainbearer, and Satanstoe relate to these troubles. So also does
Ruth Hall's Downrenter^ s Son.

2 Read McMaster's History of the People of the U. S., Vol. V, pp. 90-97.

GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1820 TO 1840 313

Bible. ^ A church was next organized, missionaries were sent
about the country, and in 1831 the sect moved to Kirtland in
Ohio, and there built a temple. Trouble with other sects and
with the people forced them to move again, and they went to
Missouri. But there, too, they came in conflict with the people,
were driven from one county to another, and in 1839-40 were
driven from the state by force of arms. A refuge was then
found in Illinois, where, on the banks of the Mississippi, they
founded the town of Nauvoo. In spite of their wanderings they
had increased in number, and were a prosperous community. ^

The Great West Explored. — During the twenty years since
Major Long's expedition, the country beyond the Missouri had
been more fully explored.
In 1822 bands of merchants
at St. Louis began to trade
with Santa Fe, sending their
goods on the backs of mules
and in wagons, thus opening
up what was known as the
Santa Fe trail. One year
later a trapper named Prevost

found the South Pass over Pack animals,

the Rocky Mountains, and

entered the Great Salt Lake country .^ This was the beginning,
and year after year bands of trappers wandered over what was
then Mexican territory but is now part of our country, from

1 Joseph Smith asserted that in a vision the angel of the Lord told him to
dig under a stone on a certain hill near Palmyra, New York, and that on doing
so he found plates of gold inscribed with unknown characters, and two stones
or crystals, on looking through which he was enabled to translate the characters.

2 Read McMaster's History of the People of the U. S., Vol. VI, pp. 102-107 ;
454-458.

8 In 1824 W. H. Ashley led a party from St. Louis up the Platte River,
over the mountains, and well down the Green River, and home by Great
Salt Lake, the South Pass, the Big Horn, the Yellowstone, and the Missouri.
In 1826 Ashley and a party went through the South Pass, dragging a six-pound
cannon, the first wheeled vehicle known to have crossed the mountains north of
the Santa Fe trail. The cannon was put in a trading post on Utah Lake.

314

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

SCALE OF MILES

Z iSo 200 abo

The Far West in 1840.

the Great Salt Lake to the lower Colorado River, and from the
Rocky Mountains to the Pacific. ^

1 In 1826 Jedediah Smith with fifteen trappers went from near the Great Salt
Lake to the lower Colorado River, crossed to San Diego, and went up California
and over the Sierra Nevada to Great Salt Lake. In 1827, with another party.
Smith went over the same ground to the lower Colorado, where the Indians killed
ten of his men and stole his property. With two companions Smith walked to San
Jose, where the Mexicans seized him. At Monterey (mon-te-ra') an American
ship captain secured his release, and with a new band of followers Smith went to
a fork of the Sacramento River. While Smith and his party were in Oregon in
1828, the Indians massacred all but five of them. The rest fled and Smith went
on alone to Eort Vancouver, a British fur-trading post on the Columbia River.
Up this river Smith went (in the spring of 1829) to the mountains, turned south-
ward, and in August, near the head waters of the Snake River, met two of his
partners. Together they crossed the mountains to the source of the Big Horn,
and then one went on to St. Louis. Early in 1830 he returned with eighty-two
men and ten wagons. This was the first wagon train on the Oregon trail

GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1820 TO 1840 315

Between 1830 and 1832 Hall J. Kelley attempted to found
a colony in Oregon, but failed, as did another leader, Nathaniel
J. Wyeth.i Wyeth tried again in 1834, but his settlements
were not permanent. A few fur traders and missionaries to
the Indians had better fortune ; but in 1840 most of the white
men in the Oregon country were British fur traders. It was
not till 1842 that the tide of American migration began to set
strongly toward Oregon ; but within a few years after that
time the Americans there greatly outnumbered the British.

1 Wyeth had joined Kelley's party ; but finding that it would not start for
some time, he withdrew, and organized a company to trade in Oregon, and early
in 1832, with twenty-nine companions, left Boston, went to St. Louis, joined a band
of trappers of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, and went with them to a great
Indian fair on the upper waters of the Snake River. There some of his com-
panions deserted him, as others had done along the way. With the rest Wyeth
reached Fort Vancouver, where the company went to pieces, and in 1833 Wyeth
returned to Boston.

SUMMARY

1. In 1840 the population of the country was 17,000,000, of whom more
than a third dwelt west of the Allegheny Mountains.

2. For twenty years there had been much discussion about the dispo-
sition of the public lands ; but Congress did not give up the plan of selling
them for the benefit of the United States.

3. As population increased, the Indians were pushed further and
further west. Some went to the Indian Country peaceably. In Georgia and
Florida they resisted.

4. As Congress would not sanction a general system of federal improve-
ments, the states built canals and railroads for themselves.

5. The success of those in the East encouraged the Western states to
undertake like improvements. But they plunged the states into debt.

6. The period was one of great mechanical development, and many
inventions of world-wide use date from this time.

7. The growth of manufactures produced great manufacturing towns,
and the increase of artisans and mechanics led to the formation of trades
unions.

8. The unrest caused by the rapid development of the country invited
reforms of all sorts, and many — social, industrial, and political — were
attempted.

CHAPTER XXV

MORE TERRITORY ACQUIRED

Tyler and the Whigs quarrel. — When Congress (in May,
1841) first met in Tyler's term, Clay led the Whigs in propos-
ing measures to carry out their party principles. But Tyler
vetoed their bill establishing a new national bank. The Whigs

then made some changes to suit,
as they supposed, his objections,
and sent him a bill to charter a
Fiscal Corporation ; but this also
came back with a veto; where-
upon his Cabinet officers (all save
Daniel Webster, Secretary of
State) resigned, and the Whig
members of Congress, in an ad-
dress to the people, read him out
of the party. Later in his term
M'\ ,< ,\ (ainX'^-^^-^ Tyler vetoed two tariff bills, but

UM^ — ± '''"""^"' ^ .-"^i-^-^l fiaally approved a third, known

The disputed Maine boundary. ^s the Tariff of 1842. For these
uses of the veto power the Whigs thought of impeaching him ;
but did not.

Webster- Ashburton Treaty. — When Tyler's cabinet officers
resigned, Webster remained in order to conclude a new treaty
with Great Britain,^ by which our present northeastern

1 Besides the long-standing dispute over the Maine boundary, two other
matters were possible causes of war with Great Britain. (1) Her cruisers had
been searching our vessels off the African coast to see if they were slavers.
(2) In the attack on the Caroline (p. 297) one American was killed, and in 1840
a Canadian, Alexander McLeod, was arrested in New York and charged with
the murder. Great Britain now avowed responsibility for the burning of the
Caroline, and demanded that the man should be released. McLeod, however,
was tried and acquitted.

316

MORE TERRITORY ACQUIRED

317

boundary was fixed from the St. Croix to the St. Lawrence.
Neither power obtained all the territory it claimed under the
treaty of 1783, but the disputed region was divided about
equally between them.^

Soon after the treaty was concluded Webster resigned the
secretaryship of state, and the rupture between Tyler and the
Whigs was complete.

The Republic of Texas. — The great event of Tyler's time
was the decision to annex the republic of Texas.

In 1821 Mexico secured her independence of Spain, and
about three years afterward adopted the policy of granting a
great tract of land in Texas
to anybody who, under cer-
tain conditions, and within a
certain time, would settle a
specified number of families
on the grant. To colonize in
this way at once became popu-
lar in the South, and in a few
years thousands of American
citizens were settled in Texas.
For a while all went well ; but in 1833 serious trouble began
between the Mexican government and the Texans, who in 1836
declared their independence, founded the republic of Texas,^

1 Two other provisions of the treaty were o^ especial importance. (1) In
order to stop the slave trade each nation was to keep a squadron (carrying
at least eighty guns) cruising off the coast of Africa. (2) It was agreed that
any person who, charged with the crime of murder, piracy, arson, robbery, or
forgery, committed in either country, shall escape to the other, shall if possible
be seized and given up to the authorities of the country which he fled.

2 A war between Mexico and Texas followed, and was carried on with great
cruelty by the Mexicans. Santa Anna, the president of Mexico, having driven
some Texans into a building called the Alamo (ah'la-mo), in San Antonio, car-
ried it by storm and ordered all of its defenders shot. A band of Texans who
surrendered at Goliad met the same fate. In 1836, however. General Samuel
Houston (Im'stun) beat the Mexicans in the decisive battle of San Jacinto. The
struggle of the Texans for independence aroused sympathy in our country; hun-
dreds of volunteers joined their army, and money, arms, and ammunition were
sent them. Read A. E. Barr's novel Bemember the Alamo,

r '

■ 1 ■ '

■J

hii

■nmHm

^^^1

The Alamo.

318

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION

The War with Mexico.

and sought admission into our Union as a state. Neither Jackson
nor Van Buren favored annexation, so the question dragged on
till 1844, when Tyler made with Texas a treaty of annexation
and sent it to the Senate. That body refused assent.

The Democrats and Texas. — The issue was thus forced.
The Democratic national convention of 1844 claimed that
Texas had once been ours,^ and declared for its "reannexation."
To please the Northern Democrats it also declared for the

1 Referring to our claim between 1803 and 1819 (p. 276) that the Louisiana
Purchase extended west to the Rio Grande.

MORE TEKKITOKY ACQUIRED 319

" reoccupation " of Oregon up to 54° 40'. This meant that
we should compel Great Britain to abandon all claim to that
country, and make it all American soil.

The Democrats went into the campaign with the popular
cries, "The reannexation of Texas; " "The whole of Oregon or
none;" "Texas or disunion" — and elected Polk^ after a close
contest.

Texas Annexed ; Oregon Divided. — Tyler, regarding the
triumph of the Democrats as an instruction from the people to
annex Texas, urged Congress to do so at once, and in March,
1845, a resolution for the admission of Texas passed both
houses, and was signed by the President.^ The resolution pro-
vided also that out of her territory four additional states might
be made if Texas should consent. The boundaries were in dis-
pute, but in the end Texas was held to have included all the
territory from the boundary of the United States to the Rio
Grande and a line extending due north from its source.

After Texas was annexed, notice was served on Great
Britain that joint occupation of Oregon must end in one year.
The British minister then proposed a boundary treaty which
was concluded in a few weeks (1846). The line agreed on was
the 49th parallel from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of
Juan de Fuca (hoo-ahn' da foo'ca), and by it to the Pacific
Ocean (compare maps, pp. 278 and 330).

War with Mexico. — Mexico claimed that the real boundary
of Texas was the Nueces (nwa'sess) River. When, therefore,

1 James K. Polk was bom in North Carolina in 1795, but -went with his
parents to Tennessee in 1806, where in 1823 he became a member of the legisla-
ture. From 1824 to 1839 he was a member of Congress, and in 1839 was elected
governor of Tennessee. Polk was the first presidential " dark horse "; that is,
the first candidate whose nomination was unexpected and a surprise. In the
Democratic national convention at Baltimore the contest was at first between Van
Buren and Cass. Polk's name did not appear till the eighth ballot ; on the
ninth the convention "stampeded" and Polk received every vote. "When the
news was spread over the country by means of railroads and stagecoaches, many
people would not believe it till confirmed by the newspapers. The Whigs nomi-
nated Henry Clay ; and the Liberty party, James G. Birney. Tyler also was
renominated by his friends, but withdrew.

2 Read Whittier's Texas.

320 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNIOM

Polk (in 1846) sent General Zachary Taylor with an array to
the Rio Grande, the Mexicans attacked him ; but he beat them
at Palo Alto (pah'lo ahl'to) and again near by at Resaca de la
Palma (ra-sah'ca da lah pahl'ma), and drove them across the
Rio Grande. When President Polk heard of the first attack,
he declared that "Mexico has shed American blood upon
American soil. . . . War exists, . . . and exists by the act
of Mexico herself." Congress promptly voted men and money
for the war.

Monterey. — Taylor, having crossed the Rio Grande, marched
to Monterey and (September, 1846) attacked the city. It
was fortified with strong stone walls in the fashion of Old
World cities ; the flat-roofed houses bristled with guns ; and
across every street was a barricade. In three days of des-
perate fighting our troops forced their way into the city, entered
the buildings, made their way from house to house by breaking
through the walls or ascending to the roofs, and reached the
center of the city before the Mexicans surrendered the town.

New Mexico and California. — Immediately after the decla-
ration of war. Colonel Stephen W. Kearny with a force of
men set off (June, 1846) by the old Santa Fe trail and
(August 18) captured Santa Fe without a struggle, established
a civil government, declared New Mexico annexed to the
United States, and then started to take possession of California.
But California had already been conquered by the Americans.
In June, 1846, some three hundred American settlers, believing
that war was imminent and fearing they would be attacked,
revolted, adopted a flag on which was a grizzly bear, and
declared California an independent republic. Fremont, who
had been exploring in California, came to their aid (July 6),
and two days later Commodore Sloat with a naval force
entered Monterey and raised the flag there. In 1847 (January
8, 9) battles were fought with the Mexicans of California ; but
the Americans held the country.

Buena Vista. — Toward the close of 1846 General Winfield
Scott was put in command of the army in Mexico, and ordered

MORE TERRITORY ACQUIRED

321

Taylor to send a large part of the army to meet him at Vera
Cruz (va'ra kroos). Santa Anna, hearing of this, gathered
18,000 men and at Buena Vista, in a narrow valley at the foot
of the mountains, attacked Taylor (February 23, 1847). The

General Taylor at Buena Vista. From an old print.

battle raged from morning to night. Again and again the
little American army of 5000 seemed certain to be overcome by
the 18,000 Mexicans. But they fought on desperately, and
when night came, both armies left the field. ^

The March to Mexico. — Scott landed at Vera Cruz in March,
1847, took the castle and city after a siege of fifteen days, and

1 In the course of the fight a son of Henry Clay was killed, and Jefferson
Davis, afterward President of the Confederate States of America, was wounded.
At one stage of the battle Lieutenant Crittenden was sent to demand the
surrender of a Mexican force that had been cut off ; but the Mexican officer in
command sent him blindfolded to Santa Anna. Crittenden thereupon demanded
the surrender of the entire Mexican army, and when told that Taylor must
surrender in an hour or have his army destroyed, replied, " General Taylor
never surrenders." Read Whittier's Angels of Buena Vista.

322

THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

about a week later set off for the city of Mexico, winning
victory after victory on the way. The heights of Cerro Gordo
were taken by storm, and the army of Santa Anna was beaten
again at Jalapa (ha-lah'pa). Puebla (pwa'bla) surrendered
at Scott's approach, and tliere he waited three months. But
on August 7 Scott again started westward with 10,000 men,
and three days later looked down on the distant city of Mexico
surrounded by broad plains and snow-capped mountains.

Then followed in quick
succession the victory at
Contreras (kon-tra'ras), the
storming of the heights of
Churubusco, the victory at
Molino del Rey (mo-lee' no
del ra') the storming of the
castle of Chapultepec' perched
on a lofty rock, and the
triumphal entry into Mexico
(September 14). ^
The Terms of Peace (1848). — The republic of Mexico was
now a conquered nation and might have been added to our
domain ; but the victors were content to retain Upper Califor-
nia and New Mexico — the region from the Rio Grande to the
Pacific, and from the Gila River to Oregon (compare maps,
pp. 318, 330). For this great territory we paid Mexico
$15,000,000, and in addition paid some 13,500,000 of claims our
citizens had against her for injury to their persons or property .^

1 The war was bitterly opposed by the antislavery people of the North as
an attempt to gain more slave territory. Numbers of pamphlets were written
against it. Lincoln, then a member of Congress, introduced resolutions asking
the President to state on what spot on American soil blood had been shed by
Mexican troops, and James Russell Lowell wrote his famous Biglow Papers.

2 Five years later (1853), by another treaty with Mexico, negotiated by James
Gadsden, we acquired a comparatively small tract south of the Gila, called the
Gadsden Purchase (compare maps, pp. 330, 352). The price was $10,000,000.
The purchase was made largely because Congress was then considering the
building of a railroad to the Pacific, and because the route likely to be chosen
went south of the Gila.

Cathedral, Mexico.

MORE TERRITORY ACQUIRED

323

Shall the Newly Acquired Territory be Slave Soil or Free ? —

The treaty with Mexico having been ratified and the territory
acquired, it became the duty of Congress
to provide the people with some American
form of government. There needed to be
American governors, courts, legislatures,
customhouses, revenue laws, in short a
complete change from the Mexican way of
governing. To do this would have been
easy if it had not been for the fact that (in
1827) Mexico had abolished slavery. All
the territory acquired was therefore free
soil; but the South wished to make it slave
soil. The question of the hour thus be-
came. Shall New Mexico and California
be slave soil or free soil ? ^

The Presidential Campaign of 1848. —
So troublesome was the issue that the two
great parties tried to keep it out of politics.
The Pemocrats in their platform in 1848
said nothing about slavery in the new territory, and the Whigs
made no platform.

This action of the two parties so displeased the antislavery
Whigs and Wilmot Proviso Democrats that they held a con-
vention, formed the Free-soil party,^ nominated Martin Van

1 As early as 1846 the North attempted to decide the question in favor of
freedom. Polk had asked for $2,000,000 with which to settle the boundary
dispute with Mexico, and when the bill to appropriate the money was before the
House, David Wilmot moved to add the proviso that all territory bought with
it should be free soil. The House passed the Wilmot Proviso, but the Senate did
not ; so the bill failed. The following year (1847) a bill to give Polk $3,000,000
was introduced, and again the proviso was added by the House and rejected by
the Senate. Then the rfouse gave way, and passed the bill ; but the acquisi-
tion of California and New Mexico by treaty left the question still unsettled.

2 Their platform declared : (1) that Congress has no more power to make a
slave than to make a king ; (2) that there must be " free soil for a free people ";

(3) that there must be "no more slave states, no more slave territories";

(4) that "we inscribe on our banner, 'Free soil, free speech, free labor, and
free men.' "

Monument on. Meidcan
boundary.

324

THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

Buren for President, and drew away so many New York
Democrats from their party that the Whigs carried the

iDoWlnou)-. QjnClkn He uuyH moA^

TAYLOR K Pi U.M ORE. '• ABOLITION

Democratic cartoon in campaign of 1848.

state and won the presidential election.^ On March 5, .1849

(March 4 was Sunday), Taylor 2 and Fillmore^ were inaugurated.

Gold in California. — By this time the question of slavery in

the new territory was still more complicated by the discovery

1 The Liberty party nominated John P. Hale of New Hampshire, but he
withdrew in favor of Van Buren. The Liberty party was thus merged in the
Free-soil party, and so disappeared from politics. The Democratic candidates
for President and Vice-President were Lewis Cass and William O. Butler.

2 Zachary Taylor was born in Virginia in 1784, was taken to Louisville, Ken-
tucky, while still a child, and grew up there. In 1808 he entered the United
States army as a lieutenant, and by 1810 had risen to be a captain. For a valiant
defense of Fort Harrison on the Wabash, he was made a major. He further
distinguished himself in the Black Hawk and Seminole wars. In the Mexican
War General Taylor was a great favorite with his men, who called him in
admiration " Old Rough and Ready." Before 1848 he had taken very little
interest in politics. He was nominated because of his record as a military hero.

8 Millard Fillmore was born in central New York in 1800, and at fourteen
was apprenticed to a trade, but studied law at odd times, and practiced law at
Buffalo. He served three terms in the state assembly, was four times elected
to Congress, and was once the Whig candidate for governor. In 1848 he was
nominated for the vice presidency as a strong Whig likely to carry New York.

MORE TERRITORY ACQUIRED

325

A rocker.

of gold in California. Many years before this time a Swiss
settler named J. A. Sutter had
obtained a grant of land in Cali-
fornia, where the city of Sac-
ramento now stands. In 1848
James W. Marshall, while building
a sawmill for Sutter at Coloma,
some fifty miles away from Sut-
ter's Fort, discovered gold in the
mill race. Both Sutter and Mar-
shall attempted to keep the fact
secret, but their strange actions
attracted the attention of a laborer,
who also found gold. Then the
news spread fast, and people came
by hundreds and by thousands to
the gold fields.^ Later in the year the news reached the East,
and when Polk in his annual message confirmed the rumors, the
rush for California began. Some went by vessel around Cape
Horn. Others took ships to the Isthmus of Panama, crossed it
on foot, and sailed to San Francisco. Still others hurried to
the Missouri to make the overland journey across the plains. ^
By August, 1849, some -eighty thousand gold hunters, " forty-
niners," as they came to be called, had reached the mines. ^

1 Laborers left the fields, tradesmen the shops, and seamen deserted their
ships as soon as they entered port. One California newspaper suspended its
issue because editor, typesetters, and printer's devil had gone to the gold fields.
In June the Star stopped for a like reason, and California was without a news-
paper. Some men made $5000, $10,000, and $15,000 in a few days. California
life in the early times is described in Kirk Munroe's Golden Days of ^49, and
in Bret Harte's Luck of Boaring Camp and Tales of the Argonauts.

2 Those who crossed the plains suffered terribly, and for many years the
wrecks of their wagons, the bones of their oxen and horses, and the graves
of many of the men were to be seen along the route. This route was from In-
dependence in Missouri, up the Platte River, over the South Pass, past Great
Salt Lake, and so to " the diggings."

8 Some jniners obtained gold by digging the earth, putting it into a tin pan,
pouring on water, and then shaking the pan so as to throw out the muddy water
and leave the particles of gold. Others used a box mounted on rockers and
called a " cradle " or " rocker."

MOM. BRIEF — 20

326 THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

The State of California. — As Congress had provided no
government, and as scarcely any could be said to exist, the
people held a convention, made a free-state constitution, and
applied for admission into the Union as a state.

Issues between the North and the South. — The election of
Taylor, and California's application for statehood, brought on a
crisis between the North and the South.

Most of the people in the North desired no more slave states
and no more slave territories, abolition of slavery and the slave
trade in the District of Columbia, and the admission of Cali-
fornia as a free state.

The South opposed these things ; complained of the difficulty
of capturing slaves that escaped to the free states, and of the
constant agitation of the slavery question by the abolitionists;
and demanded that the Mexican cession be left open to slavery.

Since 1840 two slave-holding states, Florida and Texas
(1845), and two free states, Iowa (1846) and Wisconsin (1848),
had been admitted to the Union, making fifteen free and fifteen
slave states in all; and the South now opposed the admission
of California, partly because it would give the free states a ma-
jority in the Senate.

The Compromise of 1850. — At this stage Henry Clay was
again sent to the Senate. He had powerfully supported two
great compromise measures — the Missouri Compromise of
1820, and the Compromise Tariff of 1833. He believed that
the Union was in danger of destruction; but that if the two
parties would again compromise, it could be saved.

To please the North he now proposed (1) that California
should be admitted as a free state, and (2) that the slave trade
(buying and selling slaves), but not the right to own slaves,
should be abolished in the District of Columbia. To please the
South he proposed (1) that Congress should pass a more
stringent law for the capture of fugitive slaves, and (2) that
two territories, New Mexico and Utah, should be formed from
part of the Mexican purchase, with the understanding that
the people in them should decide whether they should be slave

MORE TERRITORY ACQUIRED

327

soil or free. This principle was called " squatter sovereignty,"
or "popular sovereignty."

B^^MflPI

'■»?*-"r';

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lii'^

^ -^^ f\ ' ' •.

"v^^; ,1, .= ,, ^ - . 1

Clay addressing the Senate in 1850. From an old engraving.

Texas claimed the Rio Grande as part of her west bound-
ary. But the United States claimed the part of New Mexico
east of the Rio Grande, and both sides seemed ready to appeal
to arms. Clay proposed that Texas should give up her claim
and be paid for so doing.

During three months this plan was hotly debated,^ and threats
of secession and violence were made openly. But in the end
the plan was accepted : (1) California was admitted, (2) New

1 Read the speeches of Calhoun and Webster in Johnston's American Oror
tions^ Vol. II. Webster's speech gave great offense in the North. Read McMas-
ter's Daniel Webster, pp. 314-324, and Whittier's poem Ichabod. The debate
and its attendant scenes are well described in Rhodes's History of the U. S.,
Vol. I, pp. 104-189.

328 THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

Mexico and Utah were organized as territories open to slavery,
(3) Texas took her present bounds (see maps, pp. 318, 330) and
received $10,000,000, (4) a new fugitive slave law ^ was passed,
and (5) the slave trade was prohibited in the District of
Columbia. These measures together were called the Compro-
mise of 1850.

Death of Taylor. — While the debate on the compromise was
under way, Taylor died (July 9, 1850) and Fillmore was sworn
into office as President for the remainder of the term.

1 The fugitive slave law gave great offense to the North. It provided that
a runaway slave might be seized wherever found, and brought before a Unitefi
States judge or commissioner. The negro could not give tesiimony to prove
he was not a fugitive but had been kidnaped, if such were the case. All citi-
zens were " commanded," when summoned, to aid in the capture of a fugitive,
and, if necessary, in his delivery to his owner. Fine and imprisonment were pro-
vided for any one who harbored a fugitive or aided in his escape. The law was
put in execution at once, and " slave catchers," " man hunters," as they were
called, " invaded the North." This so excited the people that many slaves
when seized were rescued. Such rescues occurred during 1851 at New York,
Boston, Syracuse, and at Ottawa in Illinois. Read Wilson's Bise and Fall of
the Slave Power in America^ Chap. 26.

In the midst of this excitement Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe published her
story of Uncle Tom^s Cabin. Mrs. Stowe's purpose was " to show the institu-
tion of slavery truly just as it existed." The book is rather a picture of what
slavery might have been than of what slavery really was ; but it was so power-
fully written that everybody read it, and thousands of people in the North who
hitherto cared little about the slavery issue were converted to abolitionism.

SUMMARY

1. Congress in 1841 passed two bills for chartering a new national bank,
but President Tyler vetoed both. The Whig leaders then declared that
Tyler was not a Whig.

2. The next year the Webster- Ashburton treaty settled a long-standing
dispute over the northeastern boundary.

3. In 1844 the Democrats declared for the annexation of Texas and
Oregon, and elected Polk President. Congress then quickly decided to
admit Texas to the Union.

4. War with Mexico followed a dispute over the Texas boundary. In
the course of it Taylor won victories at Monterey and Buena Vista; Scott
made a famous march to the city of Mexico ; and Kearny marched to Santa
Fe and on to California.

MORE TERRITORY ACQUIRED

329

5. Peace added to the United States a great tract of country acquired
from Mexico. Meanwhile, the Oregon country had been divided by treaty
with Great Britain.

6. The acquisition of Mexican territory brought up the question of
the admission of slavery, for the territory was free soil under Mexican rule.

7. The opponents of extension of the slave area formed the Free-soil
party in 1848, and drew off enough Democratic votes so that the Whigs
elected Taylor and Fillmore.

8. Meanwhile gold had been discovered in California, and a wild rush
for the " diggings " began.

9. The people in California formed a free-state constitution and ap-
plied for admission to the Union.

10. The chief political issues now centered around slavery, and as they
had to be settled, lest the Union be broken, the Whigs and Democrats ar-
ranged the Compromise of 1850.

11. This made CaHfornia a free state, but left the new territories of
Utah and New Mexico open to slavery.

Old Spanish ranch house in southern California.

330

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THE UNITED STATES o
in 1850

Scale of Miles

300 400 500

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GreenwIcL

33X

CHAPTER XXVI
THE STRUGGLE FOR FREE SOIL

The Presidential Campaign of 1852. — The Compromise of
1850 was thought to be a final settlement of all the troubles that
had grown out of slavery. The great leaders of the Whig
and Democratic parties solemnly pledged themselves to stand
by the compromise, and when the national conventions met
in 1852, the two parties in their platforms m.ade equally solemn
promises.

The Democrats nominated Franklin Pierce ^ of New Hamp-
shire for President, and declared they would "abide by and
adhere to " the compromise, and would " resist all attempts at
renewing, in Congress or out of it, the agitation of the slavery
question." The Whigs selected Winfield Scott, and declared
the compromise to be a " settlement in principle " of the
slavery question, and promised to do all they could to prevent
further agitation of it. The Free-soilers nominated John P.
Hale of New Hampshire. The refusal of the Whig party to
stand against the compromise drove many Northern voters
from its ranks. Pierce carried every state save four and, March
4, 1853, was duly inaugurated. ^

The Slavery Question not Settled. — But Pierce had not been
many months in office when the quarrel over slavery was raging
once more. In January, 1854, Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois
introduced into the Senate a bill to organize a new territory to

1 Franklin Pierce was born in New Hampshire in 1804, and died in 1869.
He began his political career in the state legislature, went to Congress in 1833,
and to the United States Senate in 1837. In the war with Mexico, Pierce rose
from the ranks to a brigadier generalship. He was a bitter opponent of anti-
slavery measures ; but when the Civil War opened he became a Union man.

2 The electoral vote was, for Pierce, 254 ; for Scott, 42. The popular vote
was, for Pierce, 1,601,474 ; for Scott, 1,386,580; for Hale, 165,667.

THE STRUGGLE FOR FREE SOIL 333

be called Nebraska. Every foot of it was north of 36° 30' and
was, by the Compromise of 1820 (p. 274), free soil. But an
3,ttempt was made to amend the bill and declare that the Mis-
souri Compromise should not apply to Nebraska, whereupon
such bitter opposition arose that Douglas recalled his bill and
brought in another.^

Kansas-Nebraska Act. — The new bill provided for the crea-
tion of two territories, one to be called Kansas and the other
Nebraska; for the repeal
of the Missouri Compro-
mise, thus opening the
country north of 36° 30'
to slavery; and for the
adoption of the doctrine
of popular sovereignty.
The Free-soilers, led by

_, , T^ ^, ^,r.i Governor's mansion, Kansas, in 1857.

Salmon P. Chase, Wil- ^ , ^ ^

Contemporary drawing.

liam H. Seward, and

Charles Sumner, tried hard to defeat the bill. But it passed

Congress, and was signed by the President (1854). 2

The Struggle for Kansas. — And now began a seven years'
struggle between the Free-soilers and the proslavery men for
the possession of Kansas. Men of both parties hurried to the
territory. 3 The first election was for territorial delegate to
Congress, and was carried by the proslavery party assisted by
hundreds of Missourians who entered the territory, voted unlaw-

1 Stephen A. Douglas was born in Vermont in 1818, went west in 1833, was
made attorney-general of Illinois in 1834, secretary of state and judge of the
supreme court of Illinois in 1840, a member of Congress in 1843, and of the
United States Senate in 1847. He was a small man, but one of such mental
power that he was called " the Little Giant." He was a candidate for the presi-
dential nomination in the Democratic conventions of 1852 and 1856, and in 1860
was nominated by the Northern wing of that party. He was a Union man.

2 For popular opinion on the Kansas-Nebraska bill, read Rhodes's History of
the U. S., Vol. I, pp. 461-470.

3 Proslavery men from Missouri and other Southern states founded Atchison,
Leavenworth, Lecompton, and Kickapoo, in the northeastern part of Kansas.
Free-state men from the North founded Lawrence, Topeka, Manhattan, Osawa-
tomie, in the east-central part of the territory.

334 THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAlMST SLAVERY

fully, and went home. The second election was for members
of the territorial legislature. Again the Missourians swarmed
over the border, and a proslavery legislature was elected.
Governor Reeder set the- elections aside in seven districts, and
in them other members were chosen ; but the legislature when
it met turned out the seven so elected and seated the men re-
jected by the governor. The proslavery laws of Missouri were
adopted, and Kansas became a slave-holding territory.

The Topeka Constitution. — Unwilling to be governed by a
legislature so elected, looking on it as illegal and usurping, the
free-state men framed a state constitution at Topeka (1855),
organized a state government, and applied to Congress for ad-
mission into the Union as a state. The House of Representa-
tives voted to admit Kansas, but the Senate would not consent,
and (July 4, 1856) United States troops dispersed the legisla-
ture when it attempted to assemble under the Topeka constitu-
tion. Kansas was a slave-holding territory for two years yet
before the free-state men secured a majority in the legislature,^
and not till 1861 did it secure admission as a free state.

Personal Liberty Laws. — In the East meantime the rapidly
growing feeling against slavery found expression in what were
called personal liberty laws, which in time were enacted by all
save two of the free states. Their avowed object was to prevent
free negroes from being sent into slavery on the claim that they
were fugitive slaves ; but they really obstructed the execution
of the fugitive slave law of 1850.

Another sign of Northern feeling was the sympathy now
shown for the Underground Railroad. This was not a railroad,
but a network of routes along which slaves escaping to the free
states were sent by night from one friendly house to another
till they reached a place of safety, perhaps in Canada.

iln 1856 border war raged in Kansas, settlers were murdered, property
destroyed, and the free-state town of Lawrence was sacked by the proslavery
men. In 1857 the proslavery party made a slave-state constitution at Lecompton
and applied for admission, and the Senate (1858) voted to admit Kansas under
it ; but the House refused. In 1859 the Free-soilers made a second (the Wyan-
dotte) constitution, under which Kansas was admitted into the Union (1861).

THE STRUGGLE FOR FREE SOIL

335

Reception at the White House, in 1858. Contemporary drawing.

Breaking up of Old Parties. — On political parties the events
of the four years 1850-54 were serious. The Compromise of
1850, and the vigorous execution of the new fugitive slave law,
drove thousands of old line Whigs from their party. The
deaths of Clay and Webster in 1852 deprived the party of its
greatest leaders. The Kansas-Nebraska bill completed the
ruin, and from that time forth the party was of small political
importance. The Democratic party also suffered, and thousands
left its ranks to join the Free-soilers. Out of such elements
in 1854-56 was founded the new Republican party. ^

^ The breaking up of old parties over the slavery issues naturally "brought up
the question of forming a new party, and at a meeting at Ripon in Wisconsin
in 1854, it was proposed to call the new party Republican. After the passage
of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, a thousand citizens of Michigan signed a call for
a state convention, at which a Republican state party was formed and a ticket
nominated on which were Whigs, Free-soilers, and Anti-Nebraska Democrats.
Similar " fusion tickets," as they were called, were adopted in eight other states.
The success of the new party in the elections of 1854, and its still greater suc-
cess in 1855, led to a call for a convention at Pittsburg on Washington's Birth-
day, 1856. There and then the national Republican party was founded.

336 THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

The Campaign of 1856. — At Philadelphia, in June, 1856, a
Republican national convention nominated John C. Fremont
for President. The Democrats nominated James Buchanan.
A remnant of the Whigs, now nicknamed " Silver Grays," in-
dorsed Fillmore, who had been nominated by the American, or
" Know-nothing," party. ^ The Free-soilers joined the Repub-
licans. Buchanan was elected. 2

Dred Scott Decision, 1857. — Two days after the inauguration
of Buchanan, the Supreme Court made public a decision which
threw the country into intense excitement. A slave named
Dred Scott had been taken by his owner from Missouri to the
free state of Illinois and then to Minnesota, made free soil by
the Compromise of 1820. When brought back to Missouri,
Dred Scott sued for freedom. Long residence on free soil, he
claimed, had made him free. The case finally reached the
Supreme Court of the United States, which decided against
him.^ But in delivering the decision, Chief-Justice Taney an-
nounced: (1) that Congress could not shut slavery out of the
territories, and (2) that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was
unconstitutional and void.

1 The American party was the outcome of a long-prevalent feeling against
the election of foreign-born citizens to office. At many times and at many
places this feeling had produced political organizations. But it was not till
1852 that a secret, oath-bound organization, with signs, grips, and passwords,
was formed and spread its membership rapidly through most of the states. As
its members would not tell its principles and methods, and professed entire
ignorance of them when questioned, the American party was called in derision
"the Know-nothings." Its success, however, was great, and in 1855 Know-
nothing governors and legislatures were elected in eight states, and heavy votes
polled in six more.

2 The electoral vote was, for Buchanan, 174 ; for Fremont, 114 ; for Fill-
more, 8. The popular vote was, for Buchanan, 1,838,169 ; fur Fremont, 1,341,-
264 ; for Fillmore, 874,534. James Buchanan was born in Pennsylvania in 1791,
was educated at school and college, studied law, served in the state legislature,
was five times elected to the House of Representatives, and three times to the
Senate. In the Senate he was a warm supporter of Jackson, and favored the
annexation of Texas under Tyler. He was Secretary of State under Polk, and
had been minister to Great Britain.

8 The Chief Justice ruled that no negro whose ancestors had been brought
as slaves into the United States could be a citizen ; Scott therefore was not a
citizen, and hence could not sue in any United States court.

THE STRUGGLE FOR FREE SOIL

337

The Territories Open to Slavery. — This decision confirmed all
that the South had gained
by the Kansas-Nebraska
Act and the Compromise
of 1850, and also opened -'l
to slavery Washington
and Oregon, which were
then free territories.

If the court supposed
that its decision would
end the struggle, it was
much mistaken. Not a
year went by but some
incident occurred which
added to the excitement.

Lincoln-Douglas De-
bate. — In 1858 the peo-
ple of Illinois were to
elect a legislature which
would choose a senator
to succeed Stephen A.
Douglas. The Demo-
crats declared for Douglas. The Republicans nominated Abra-
ham Lincoln,^ and as the canvass proceeded the two candidates

1 Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky, February 12, 1809, and while still
a child was taken by his parents to Indiana. The first winter was spent in a half-
faced camp, and for several years the log cabin that replaced it had neither door
nor wood floor. Twelve months' "schooling" was all he ever had; but he was
fond of books and borrowed ^sop's Fables, Bohinson Crusoe, and Weems's Life
of Washington, the book in which first appeared the fabulous story of the hatchet
and the cherry tree. At nineteen Lincoln went as a flatboatman to New Orleans.
In 1830 his father moved to Illinois, where Lincoln helped build the cabin and
split the rails to fence in the land, and then went on another flatboat voyage to
New Orleans. He became a clerk in a store in 1831, served as a volunteer in the
Black Hawk War, tried business and failed, became postmaster of New Salem,
which soon ceased to have a post office, supported himself as plowman, farm
hand, and wood cutter, and tried surveying ; but made so many friends that in
1834 he was sent to the legislature, and reelected in 1836, 1838, and 1840. He
now began the practice of law, settled in Springfield, was elected to Congress
in 1846, and served there one term.

:^^^.

Lincoln's law office in Springfield.

338 THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

traversed the state, holding a series of debates. The questions
discussed were popular sovereignty, the Dred Scott decision,
and the extension of slavery into the territories, and the de-
bates attracted the attention of the whole country. Lincoln
was defeated ; but his speeches gave him a national reputation. ^

John Brown at Harpers Ferry. — In 1859 John Brown, a life-
long enemy of slavery, went to Harpers Ferry, Virginia, with
a little band of followers, to stir up an insurrection and free the
slaves. He was captured, tried for murder and treason, and
hanged. The attempt was a wild one; but it caused intense
excitement in both the North and the South,, and added to the
bitter feeling which had long existed between the two sec-
tions.2

The Presidential Election of i860. — The Democrats were
now so divided on the slavery issues that when they met in
convention at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1860, the party was
rent in twain, and no candidates were chosen. Later in the
year the Northern wing nominated Stephen A. Douglas for
President. The Southern delegates, at a convention of their
own, selected John C. Breckinridge.

Another party made up of old Whigs and Know-nothings
nominated John Bell of Tennessee. This was the Constitu-
tional Union party. The Republicans ^ named Abraham Lin-
coln and carried the election.^

1 For a description of the Lincoln-Douglas debate of 1868, read Rhodes's
History of the U. S., Vol. II, pp. 314-338.

2 Many persons regarded Brown as a martyr. Read Whittier's Brown of
Ossawatomie, or Stedman's How Old Brown took Harper'' s Ferry. Read, also,
Khodes's History of the U. S., Vol. II, pp. 383-398.

3 The platform of the Republicans adopted in 1860 (at Chicago) sets forth :
(1) that the party repudiates the principles of the Dred Scott decision, (2) that
Kansas must be admitted as a free state, (3) that the territories must be free soil,
and (4) that slavery in existing states should not be interfered with.

* The electoral vote was, for Lincoln, 180; for Douglas, 12 ; for Breckinridge,
72 ; for Bell, 39. The popular vote was, for Lincoln, 1,866,452 ; for Douglas,
1,376,957 ; for Breckinridge, 849,781 ; for Bell, 588,879. Lincoln received no
votes at all in ten Southern states. The popular votes were so distributed that if
those for Douglas, Breckinridge, and Bell had all been cast for one of the candi-
dates, Lincoln would still have been elected President (by 173 electoral votes to
130).

THE STRUGGLE FOR FREE SOIL

339

SUMMARY

1. The Compromise of 1850 was supposed to settle the slavery issues,
and the two great parties pledged themselves to support it.

2. But the issues were not settled, and in 1854 the organization of Kan-
sas and Nebraska reopened the struggle.

3. The Kansas-Nebraska bill and the contest over Kansas split both the
Whig party and the Democratic party, and by the union of those who left
them, with the Free-soilers, the Republican party was made, 1854-56.

4. In 1857 the Supreme Court declared the Missouri Compromise uncon-
stitutional, and opened all territories to slavery.

5. In 1858 this decision and other slavery issues were debated by Lin-
coln and Douglas.

6. This debate made Lincoln a national character, and in 1860 he was
elected President by the Republican party.

Schoolhouse in the mountains, used by
Brown as an arsenal.
Contemporary drawing.

CHAPTER XXVII

STATE OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1840 TO 1860

Population. — In the twenty years which had elapsed since
1840 the population of our country had risen to over 31,000,000.
In New York alone there were, in 1860, about as many people
as lived in the whole United States in 1789.

Not a little of this increase of population was due to the
stream of immigrants which had been pouring into the country.
From a few thousand in 1820, the number who came each year
rose gradually to about 100,000 in the year 1842, and then
went down again. But famine in Ireland and hard times in
Germany started another great wave of immigration, which rose

higher and higher till

Jbetween.1840 and|1860

(1854) more than
400,000 people arrived
in one year. Then
once more the wave
subsided, and in 1861
less than 90,000 came.
New States and
Territories. — Though
population was still
moving westward, few
of our countrymen, before the gold craze of 1849, had crossed
the Missouri. Those who did, went generally to Oregon, which
was organized as a territory in 1848 and admitted into the
Union as a state in 1859. By that time California (1850) and
Minnesota (1858) had also been admitted, so that the Union in
1860 consisted of thirty-three states and five territories. Eigh-
teen states were free, and fifteen slave-holding. The five ter-

340

Settled area in i860.

STATE OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1840 TO 1860 341

ritories were New Mexico, Utah, Washington (1853), Kansas,
and Nebraska (small map, p. 394).

City Life. — About one sixth of the population in 1860 lived
in cities, of which there were about 140 of 8000 or more people
each. Most of them were ugly, dirty, badly built, and poorly
governed. The older ones, however, were much improved.
The street pump had gfven way to water works; gas and
plumbing were in general use ; many cities had uniformed
police ;i but the work of fighting fires was done by volunteer
fire departments. Street cars (drawn by horses) now ran in
all the chief cities, omnibuses were in general use, and in New
York city the great Central Park, the first of its kind in the
country, had been laid out. Illustrated magazines, and weekly
papers, Sunday newspapers, and trade journals had been estab-
lished, and in some cities graded schools had been introduced. ^

Schools and Colleges. — In the country the district school
for boys and girls was gradually being improved. The larger
cities of the North now had high schools as well as common
schools, and in a few instances separate high schools for girls.
Between 1840 and 1860 eighty-two sectarian and twenty non-
sectarian colleges were founded, and the Naval Academy at
Annapolis was opened. Not even the largest college in 1860
had 800 students, and in but one (University of Iowa, 1856)
were women admitted to all departments.

Literature. — Public libraries were now to be found not only
in the great cities, but in most of the large towns, and in such
libraries were collections of poetry, essays, novels, and histories
written by American authors. Longfellow, Holmes, Lowell, Poe,
Bryant, and Whittier among poets ; Hawthorne, Irving, Cooper,
Simms, and Poe among writers of fiction; Emerson and Lowell
among essayists, were read and admired abroad as well as at
home. Prescott, who had lately (1859) died, had left behind

1 All the large cities were so poorly governed, however, that they were often
the scenes of serious riots, political, labor, race, and even religious.

2 An unfriendly picture of the United States in 1842 is Dickens's American
Notes^ a book well worth reading.

342 THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

him histories of Spain in the Old World and in the New;
Parkman was just beginning his story of the French in America;
Motley had published his Rise of the Butch Republic^ and part
of his History of the United Netherlands; Hildreth had com-
pleted one History of the United States^ and Bancroft was still
at work on another.

Near these men of the first rank stood many writers popular
in their day. The novels of Kennedy, and the poetry of Drake,
Halleck, and Willis are not yet forgotten.

Occupations. — In the Eastern states the people were engaged
chiefly in fishing, commerce, and manufacturing ; in the Middle
states in farming, commerce, manufacturing, and mining. To
the great coal and iron mines of Pennsylvania were (1859)
added the oil fields. That petroleum existed in that state had
long been known ; but it was not till Drake drilled a well near
Titusville (in northwestern Pennsylvania) and struck oil that
enough was obtained to make it marketable. Down the Ohio
there was a great trade in bituminous coal, and the union of
the coal, iron, and oil trades was already making Pittsburg a
great city. In the South little change had taken place. Cot-
ton, tobacco, sugar, and the products of the pine forests were
still the chief sources of wealth; mills and factories hardly
existed. The West had not only its immense farms, but also
the iron mines of upper Michigan, the lead mines of the upper
Mississippi and in Missouri, the copper mines of the Lake
Superior country, and the lumber industry of Michigan and
Wisconsin. Through the lakes passed a great commerce.
California was the great gold-mining state ; but gold and silver
had just been discovered near Pikes Peak, and in what is now
Nevada.

The Mormons. — Utah territory in 1860 contained forty
thousand white people, nearly all Mormons. These people, as
we have seen, when driven from Missouri, built the city called
Nauvoo in Illinois. Their leaders now introduced the practice
of polygamy, and in various ways opposed the state authorities.
In 1844 they came to blows with the state; the leaders were

STATE OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1840 TO 1860

343

arrested, and while in jail Joseph Smith and his brother were
murdered by a mob. Brigham Young then became head of the
church, and in the winter of 1846 the Mormons, driven from
Nauvoo, crossed the Mississippi and began a long march west-
ward over the plains to Great Salt Lake, then in Mexico.
There they settled down, and when the war with Mexico ended,
they were again in the United States. When Utah was made
a territory in 1850, Brigham Young was appointed its first
governor. 1

The Far West. — Before 1850 each new state added to the
Union had bordered on some older state : but now California

. iii

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Fort Union, built in 1829 by the American Fur Company.

and Oregon were separated from the other states by wide

stretches of wilderness. The Rocky Mountain highland and

1 Several non-Mormon officials were sent to Utah, but they were not allowed
to exercise any authority, and were driven out. The Mormons formed the
state of Deseret and applied for admission into the Union. Congress paid no
attention to the appeal, and (1857) Buchanan appointed a new governor and
sent troops to Utah to uphold the Federal authority. Young forbade them to
enter the territory, and dispatched an armed force that captured some of their
supplies. In the spring of 1858 the President offered pardon " to all who will
submit themselves to the just authority of the Federal Government," and Young
and his followers did so.

344 THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

the Great Plains, however, were not entirely uninhabited.
Over them wandered bands of Indians mounted on fleet ponies ;
white hunters and trappers, some trapping for themselves,
some for the great fur companies ; and immense herds of
buffalo, 1 and in the south herds of wild horses. The streams
still abounded with beaver. Game was everywhere, deer, elk,
antelope, bears, wild turkeys, prairie chickens, and on the
streams wild ducks and geese. Here and there were villages
of savage and merciless Indians, and the forts or trading posts
of the trappers. Every year bands of emigrants crossed the
plains and the mountains, bound to Utah, California, or Oregon.
Proposed Railroad to the Pacific. — In 1842 John C. Fremont,
with Kit Carson as guide, began a series of explorations which
finally extended from the Columbia to the Colorado, and from
the Missouri to California and Oregon (map, p. 314). 2 Men
then began to urge seriously the plan of a railroad across the
continent to some point on the Pacific. In 1845 Asa Whitney ^
applied to Congress for a grant of a strip of land frorn some
point on Lake Michigan to Puget Sound, and came again with
like appeals in 1846 and 1848. By that time the Mexican
cession had been acquired, and this with the discovery of gold
in California gave the idea such importance that (in 1853)

1 An interesting account of the buffalo is given in A. C. Laut's The Story
of the Trapper^ pp. 65-80. Herds of a hundred thousand were common. As
many as a million buffalo robes were sent east each year in the thirties and
forties.

2 John C. Fremont was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1813, and in 1842 was
Lieutenant of Engineers, United States Army. In 1842 he went up the Platte
River and through the South Pass. The next year he passed southward to
Great Salt Lake, then northwestward to the Columbia, then southward through
Oregon to California, and back by Great Salt Lake to South Pass in 1844.
In 1845 he crossed what is now Nebraska and Utah, and reached the vicinity
of Monterey in California. The Mexican authorities ordered him away ; but
he remained in California and helped to win the country during the war with
Mexico. Later he was senator from California, Republican candidate for Presi-
dent in 1856, and an army general during the Civil War.

8 Whitney asked for a strip sixty miles wide. So much of the land as was
not needed for railroad purposes was to be sold and the money used to build the
road. During 1847-49 his plan was approved by the legislatures of seventeen
states, and by mass meetings of citizens or Boards of Trade in seventeen cities.

STATE OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1840 TO 1860 345

money was finally voted by Congress for the survey of several
routes. Jefferson Davis, as Secretary of War, ordered five
routes to be surveyed and (in 1855) recommended the most
southerly ; and the Senate passed a bill to charter three roads. ^
Jealousy among the states prevented the passage of the bill
by the House. In 1860 tlie platforms of the Democratic and
Republican parties declared for such a railroad.

Mechanical Improvement. — During the period 1840-60 me-
chanical improvement was more remarkable than in earlier
periods. The first iron-front building was erected, the first
steam fire engine used, wire rope manufactured, a grain drill
invented. Hoe's printing press
with revolving type cylinders
introduced, and six inventions
or discoveries of universal
benefit to mankind were given
to the world. They were the
electric telegraph, the sewing
machine, the improved har-
vester, vulcanized rubber, the
photograph, and ancesthesia.

The Telegraph. — Seven
years of struggle enabled
Samuel F. B. Morse, helped by i
Alfred Vail, to make the elec-
tric telegraph a success,^ and in
1844, with the aid of a small ap-
propriation by Congress, Morse

built a telegraph line from inorse and his first telegraph instrument.

1 One from the west border of Texas to California ; another from the west
border of Missouri to California ; and a third from the west border of Wisconsin
to the Pacific in Oregon or Washington.

2 In 1842 Morse laid the first submarine telegraph in the world, from
Governors Island in New York harbor to New York city. It consisted of a wire
wound with string and coated with tar, pitch, and India rubber, to prevent the
electric current running off into the water. It was laid on October 18, and the
next morning, while messages were being received, the anchor of a vessel caught
and destroyed the wire.

MCM. BRIEF — 21

346

THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

Baltimore to Washington. ^ Further aid was asked from Congress

and refused. 2 The Magnetic Telegraph Company was then

started. New York and Baltimore were connected in 1846,

and in ten years some forty companies were in operation in the

most populous states.

The Sewing Machine ; the Harvester. — A man named

Hunt invented the lockstitch sewing machine in 1834 ; but it

was not successful, and some time

elapsed before his idea was taken up

by Elias Howe, who after several

years of experiment (1846) made a

practical machine. People were slow

to use it, but by 1850 he had so

aroused the interest of inventors that

seven rivals were in the field, and to

their joint labors we owe one of the

most useful inventions of the cen-

tury. From the household the sewing °°^^;^ ^'' ''^^ '^''^'^

machine passed into use in factories (1862), and to-day gives

employment to hun-
dreds of thousands of
people.

What the sewing
machine is to the home
and the factory, that
is the reaper to the
farm. After many
Early harvester. From an old print. years of experiment

1 The wire was at first put in a lead tube and laid in a furrow plowed in
the earth. This failed ; so the wire was strung on poles. One end was in the
Pratt St. Depot, Baltimore, and the other in the Supreme Court Chamber
at Washington. The, first words sent, after the completion of the line, were
" What hath God wrought." Two days later the Democratic convention (which
nominated Polk for President) met at Baltimore, and its proceedings were
reported hourly to Washington by telegraph.

2 Morse offered to sell his patent to the government, but the Postmaster
General I'eported that the telegraph was merely an interesting experiment and
could never have a practical value, so the offer was not accepted.

STATE OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1840 TO 1860 347

Cyrus McCormick invented a practical reaper and (1840)
sought to put it on the market, but several more years passed
before success was assured. To-day, greatly improved and
perfected, it is in use the world over, and has made possible
the great grain fields, not only of our own middle West and
Northwest, but of Argentina, Australia, and Russia.

Vulcanized Rubber ; Photography ; Anaesthesia. — The early
attempts to use India rubber for shoes, coats, caps, and wagon
covers failed because in warm weather the rubber softened and
emitted an offensive smell. To overcome this Goodyear
labored year after year to discover a method of hardening or,
as it is called, vulcanizing rubber. Even when the discovery
was made and patented, sev-
eral years passed before he was
sure of the process. In 1844
he succeeded and gave to the
world a most useful inven-
tion.

In 1839 a Frenchman
named Daguerre patented a
method of taking pictures
by exposing to sunlight a
copper plate treated with
certain chemicals. The ex-
posure for each picture was
some twenty minutes. An
American, Dr. John W. Dra-
per, so improved the method ^ daguerreotype, in metal case, 1843.

that pictures were taken of persons in a much shorter time,
and photography was fairly started.

Greater yet was the discovery that by breathing sulphuric
ether a person can become insensible to pain and then recover
consciousness. The glory of the discovery has been claimed
for Dr. Morton and Dr. Jackson, who used it in 1846. Laugh-
ing gas (nitrous oxide) was used as an anaesthetic before this
time by Dr. Wells of Hartford.

348 THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

Transportation Improved. — In the country east of the Mis-
sissippi some thirty thousand miles of railroad had been built,
and direct communication opened from the North and East
to Chicago (1853) and New Orleans (1859). For the growth
of railroads between 1850 and 1861 study the maps on
pp. 331, 353. 1 At first the lines between distant cities were
composed of many connecting but independent roads. Thus
between Albany and Buffalo there were ten such little roads ;
but in 1853 they were consolidated and became the New
York Central, and- the era of the great trunk lines was fairly
opened.

On the ocean, steamship service between the Old World
and the New was so improved that steamships passed from
Liverpool to New York in less than twelve days.

Better means of transportation were of benefit, not merely
to the traveler and the merchant, but to the people generally.
Letters could be carried faster and more cheapl}^, so the rate
of postage on a single letter was reduced (1851) from five
or ten cents to three cents,^ and before 1860 express service
covered every important line of transportation.

The Atlantic Cable. — The success of the telegraph on land
suggested a bold attempt to lay wires across the bed of the
ocean, and in 1854 Cyrus W. Field of New York was asked to
aid in the laying of a cable from St. Johns to Cape Ray, New-
foundland. But Field went further and formed a company to
join Newfoundland and Ireland by cable, and after two failures

^ The use of vast sums of money in building so many railroads, together
with overtrading and reckless speculation, brought on a business panic in 1857.
Factories were closed, banks failed, thousands of men and women were thrown
out of employment, and for two years the country suffered from hard times.

2 It was not till 1883 that the rate was reduced to two cents. Before the
introduction of the postage stamp, letters were sent to the post offices, and when
the postage had been paid, they were marked " Paid " by the officials. When
the mails increased in volume in the large cities, this way of doing business con-
sumed so miuch time that the postmasters at St. Louis and New York sold .stamps
to be affixed to letters as evidence that the postage had been paid. The con-
venience was so great that public opinion forced Clongvess to authorize the post
office department to furnish stamps and require the people to use them
(1847).

STATE OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1840 TO 1860 349

succeeded (1858). During three weeks all went well and
some four hundred messages were sent ; then the cable ceased
to work, and eight years passed before another was laid. Since
then many telegraph cables have been laid across the Atlantic ;
but it was not till 1903 that the first was laid across the Pacific.

Foreign Relations. — We have seen how during this period
our country was expanded by the annexation of Texas (1845)
and by two cessions of territory from Mexico (1848 and 1853).
But this was not enough to satisfy the South, and attempts were
made to buy Cuba. Polk (1848) offered Spain $100,000,000
for it. Filibusters tried to capture it (in 1851), and Pierce
(1853) urged its annexation. With this end in view our
ministers to Great Britain, France, and Spain met at Ostend
in Belgium in 1854 and issued what was called the Ostend
Manifesto. This s^t forth that Cuba must be annexed to pro-
tect slavery, and if Spain would not sell for a fair price, " then
by every law, human and divine, we shall be justified in wrest-
ing it from Spain if we possess the power." Buchanan also
(1858) urged the purchase of Cuba; but in vain.

China and Japan. — More pleasing to recall are our rela-
tions with China and Japan. Our flag was first seen in China
in 1784, when the trading vessel Empress of China reached
Canton. Washington (1790) appointed a consul to reside
in that city, the only one in China then open to foreign
trade ; but no minister from the United States was sent to
China till Caleb Cushing went in 1844. By him our first
treaty was negotiated with China, under which five ports were
opened to American trade and two very important concessions
secured : (1) American citizens charged with any criminal act
were to be tried and punished only by the American consul.
(2) All privileges which China might give to any other nation
were likewise to be given to the United States.

At that time Japan was a "hermit nation." In 1853, how-
ever. Commodore M. C. Perry went to that country with a
fleet, and sent to the emperor a message expressing the wish
of the United States to enter into trade relations with Japan.

350 THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

Then he sailed away ; but returned in 1854 and made a treaty
(the first entered into by Jaj)an) which resulted in opening
that country to the United States. Other nations followed,
and Japan was thus opened to trade with the civilized world.

SUMMARY

1. Between 1840 and 1860 the population increased from 17,000,000 to
31,000,000.

2. During this period millions of immigrants had come.

3. As population continued to move westward new states and territories
were formed.

4. In one of these new territories, Utah, were the Mormons who had
been driven from Illinois.

5. The rise of a new state on the Pacific coast revived the old demand
for a railroad across the plains, and surveys were ordered.

6. East of the Mississippi thousands of miles of railroads were built,
and the East, the West, and the far South were connected.

7. This period is marked by many great inventions and discoveries,
including the telegraph, the sewing machine, and the reaper.

8. It was in this period that trade relations were begun with China
and Japan.

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE CIVIL WAR, 1861-1863

The Confederate States of
America. — After Lincoln's
election, the cotton states,
or,e by one, passed ordinances
declaring that they left the
Union. First to go was
South Carolina (December
20, 1860), and by February
1^ 1861, Mississippi, Florida,
Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana,
and Texas had followed. On
February 4 delegates from
six of these seven states met
at Montgomery, Alabama,
framed a constitution,^ es- «*«»-'^«^
tablished the "Confederate
States of America," and
elected Jefferson Davis ^ and

CHARLISIION

MERCURY

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UNION

DISSOLVED!

1 The constitution of the Con-
federacy was the Constitution of the
United States altered to suit condi-
tions. The President was to serve
six years and was not to be eligible
for reelection ; the right to own slaves
was affirmed, but no slaves were to
be imported from any foreign country
except the slave-holding states of the
old Union. The Congress was for-
bidden to establish a tariff for protection of any branch of industry,
preme Court was provided for, but was never organized.

2 Jefferson Davis was born in 1808, graduated from the Military Academy at
West Point in 1828, served in the Black Hawk War, resigned from the army in
18.35, and became a cotton planter in Mississippi. In 1845 he was elected to

361

Newspaper bulletin posted
of Charleston.

the streets

A Su-

105 Longitude

352

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THE UNITED STATES
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SCALE OF MILES

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353

Abraham Lincoln.

Photograph of 1856.

364

THE CIVIL WAR. 1861-1863

355

Alexander H. Stephens provisional President and Vice Presi-
dent. Later they were elected by the people.

Lincoln's Policy. — President Buchanan did nothing to
prevent all this, and such was the political situation when
Lincoln was inaugurated (March 4, 1861). His views and his
policy were clearly stated in his inaugural address : " I have
no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the institu-
tion of slavery in the
states where it exists.
... No state on its
own mere motion can
lawfully get out of the
Union. . . . The Union
is unbroken, and to the
extent of my ability I
shall take care that the
laws of the Union be
faithfully executed in all
the states. ... In do-
ing this there need be no
bloodshed or violence,
and there shall be none
unless it be forced upon
the national authority.
. . . The power con-
fided in me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the prop-
erty and places belonging to the government."

Fort Sumter Captured. — Almost all the " property and
places " belonging to the United States government in the seven
seceding states had been seized by the Confederates.^ But

Jefferson Davis.

Congress, but resigned to take part in the Mexican War, and was wounded at
Buena Vista. In 1847 he was elected a senator, and from 1853 to 1857 was Secre-
tary of War. He then returned to the Senate, where he was when Mississippi
seceded. He died in New Orleans in 1889.

1 Property of the United States seized by the states was turned over to the
Confederate government. Thus Louisiana gave up $536,000 in specie taken
from the United States customhouse and mint at New Orleans.

356

THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor was still in Union hands, and
to this, Lincoln notified the governor of South Carolina, supplies
would be sent. Thereupon the Confederate army already gath-
ered in Charleston bombarded the fort till Major Anderson
surrendered it (April 14, 1861). ^

One of the batteries that bombarded Fort Sumter.

The War opens. — With the capture of Fort Sumter the
war for the Union opened in earnest. On April 15 Lincoln
called for seventy-five thousand militia to serve for three
months. 2 Thereupon Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and
Arkansas seceded and joined the Confederacy. The capital of
the Confederacy was soon moved from Montgomery to Rich-
mond, Virginia.

In the slave-holding states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky,
and Missouri the Union men outnumbered the secessionists and
held these states in the Union. When Virginia seceded, the
western counties refused to leave the Union, and in 1863 were
admitted into the Union as the state of West Virginia.

1 Read "Inside Sumter in '61" in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War,
Vol. I, pp. 65-73.

2 Read "War Preparations in the North" in Battles and Leaders of the
Civil War, Vol. I, pp. 85-98; on pp. 149-159, also, read "Going to the Front."

THE CIVIL WAR, 1861-1863

357

The Dividing Line. — The first call for troops was soon fol-
lowed by a second. The responses to both were so prompt that
by July 1, 1861, more than one hundred and eighty tliousand
Union soldiers were under arms. They were stationed at
various points along a line that stretched from Norfolk in Vir-
ginia up the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River to Harpers
Ferry, and then across western Virginia, Kentucky, and Mis-
souri. South of this dividing line were the Confederate armies. ^

Geographically this line was cut into three sections : that
in Virginia, that in Kentucky, and that in Missouri.

Bull Run. — General Winfield Scott was in command of the
Union army. Under him and in command of the troops about
"Washington was Gen-
eral McDowell, who in
July, 1861, was sent to
drive back the Confed-
erate line in Virginia.
Marching a few miles
southwest, McDowell
met General Beaure-
gard near Manassas,
and on the field of Bull
Run was beaten and
his army put to flight. ^
The battle taught the North that the war would not end in three
months ; that an army of raw troops was no better than a mob ;
that discipline was as necessary as patriotism. Thereafter men
were enlisted for three years or for the war.

1 An interesting account of " Scenes in Virginia in '61" may be found in
Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. I, pp. 1G0-1G6.

2 "The Confederate army was more disorganized by victory than that of
the United States by defeat," says General Johnston; and no pursuit of the
Union forces was made. " The larger part of the men," McDowell telegraphed
to Washington, "are a confused mob, entirely disorganized." None stopped
short of the fortifications along the Potomac, and numbers entered Washington.
Read Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. I, pp. 229-239. " I have no
idea that the North will give it up," wrote Stephens, Vice President of the Con-
federacy. " Their defeat will increase their energy." He was right.

Stone bridge over Bull Run.

Crossed by many fleeing Union men.

358

THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

General George B. McClellan ^ was now put in command of
the Union Army of the Potomac, and spent the rest of 1861,
and the early months of 1862, in drilling his raw volunteers.

Confederate Line in Kentucky Driven back, 1862. — In Ken-
tucky the Confederate line stretched across the southern part
of the state as shown on the map. Against this General
Thomas was sent in January, 1862. He defeated the Con-
federates at Mill Springs near the eastern end. In February

scale: of m les

Driving back the Confederate line in* the West.

General U. S. Grant and Flag-Officer Foote were sent to attack,
by land and water. Forts Donelson and Henry near the west-
ern end of the line. Foote arrived first at Fort Henry on the
Tennessee and captured it. Thereupon Grant marched across

1 George Brinton McClellan was born in Philadelphia in 1826, graduated
from West Point, served in the Mexican War, and resigned from the army in
1857, to become a civil engineer, but rejoined it at the opening of the war.
In July, 1861, he conducted a successful campaign against the Confederates in
West Virginia, and his victories there were the cause of his promotion to com-
mand the Army of the Potomac. After the battle of Antietam (p. 363) he
took no further part in the war, and finally resigned in 1864. From 1878 to
1881 be was governor of New Jersey. He died in 1886.

THE CIVIL WAR, 1861-1863

359

country to Fort Donelson on the Cumberland, and after three
days' sharp fighting forced General Buckner to surrender.^

Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing. — The Confederate line was
now broken, and abandoning Nashville and Columbus, the
Confederates fell back toward
Corinth in Mississippi. The
Union army followed in three
parts.

1. One under General
Curtis moved to southwest-
ern Missouri and won a bat-
tle at Pea Ridge (Arkansas).

2. Another under Gen-
eral Pope on the banks of
the Mississippi aided Flag-
Officer Foote in the capture
of Island No. 10.2 xhe fleet
then passed down the river
and took Fort Pillow.

3. The third part under Grant took position very near
Pittsburg Landing, at Shiloh,^ where it was attacked and driven

1 Hiram Ulysses Grant was bom in Ohio in 1822, and at seventeen entered
West Point, where his name was registered Ulysses S. Grant, and as such he was
ever after known. He served in the Mexican War, and afterward engaged in
business of various sorts till the opening of the Civil War, when he was made
colonel of the Twenty-first Illinois Regiment, and then commander of the dis-
trict of southeast Missouri. When General Buckner, who commanded at Fort
Donelson, wrote to Grant to know what terms he would offer, Grant replied :
"No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I
propose to move immediately upon your works." This won for Grant the pop-
ular name " Unconditional Surrender " Grant.

Andrew H. Foote was bom in Connecticut in 1806, entered the navy at
sixteen, and when the war opened, was made flag officer of the Western navy.
His gunboats were like huge rafts carrying a house with flat roof and sloping sides
that came down to the water's edge. The sloping sides and ends were covered
with iron plates and pierced for guns ; three in the bow, two in the stern, and four
on each side. The huge wheel in the stern which drove the boat was under cover ;
but the smoke stacks were unprotected. Foote died in 1863, a rear admiral.

2 The islands in the Mississippi are numbered from the mouth of the Ohio
River to New Orleans.

« Read BaUles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. I, pp. 465-486.

Ulysses S. Giant.

360

THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

back. But the next day, being strongly reenforced, General
Grant beat the Confederates, who retreated to Corinth. General
Halleck now took command, and having united the second and
third parts of the army, took Corinth and cut off Memphis,
which then surrendered to the fleet in the river.

Bragg's Raid. — And now the Confederates turned furiously.
Their army under General Bragg, starting from Chattanooga,

rushed across Tennessee
and Kentucky toward
Louisville, but after a hot
fight with General Buell's
army at Perryville was
forced to turn back, and
went into winter quarters
at Murfreesboro.i

There Bragg was at-
tacked by the Union
forces, now under General
Rosecrans, was beaten in
one of the most bloody
battles of the war (Decem-
ber 31, 1862, and January
2, 1863), and was forced
to retreat further south.

New Orleans, 1862. —
Both banks of the Missis-
sippi as far south as the Arkansas were by this time in Union
hands.2 South of that river on the east bank of the Mississippi
the Confederates still held Vicksburg and Port Hudson (maps,
pp. 353, 368). But New Orleans had been captured in April,

1 Farther west the Confederates attacked the Union army at Corinth
(October 4), but were defeated by General Rosecrans.

2 In January, 1862, the Confederate line west of the Mississippi stretched
from Belmont across southern Missouri to Indian Territory; but Grant drove the
Confederates out of Belmont ; General Curtis, as we have seen, beat them at
Pea Ridge (in March), and when the year ended, the Union army was in posses-
sion of northern Arkansas.

Northern cavalryman.
A war-time drawing published in 1863.

THE CIVIL WAR, 1861-1863

361

1 '■-'x^ y Gh.-ilnti. i,-lHii^»

^^'^E y N / l)f,, S ''Y L -V>

1862, by a naval expedition under Farragut; ^ and the city was
occupied by a Union army under General Butler.^

The Peninsular

Campaign, 1862. —
In the East the
year opened with
great preparation
for the capture of
Richmond, the
Confederate capi-
tal.

1. Armies un-
der Fremont and
Banks in the Shen-
andoah valley were
to prevent an at-
tack on Washing-
ton from the west.

2. An army

under McDowell
was to be ready to

War in the East, 1862.

1 David G. Farragut was born in 1801, and when eleven years old served on the
Essex in the War of 1812. When his fleet started up the Mississippi River,
in 18G2, he found his way to New Orleans blocked by two forts, St. Philip
and Jackson, by chains across the river on hulks below Fort Jackson, and by a
fleet of ironclad boats above. After bombarding the forts for six days, he cut
the chains, ran by the forts, defeated the fleet, and went up to New Orleans,
and later took Baton Rouge and Natchez. For the capture of New Orleans he
received the thanks of Congress, and was made a rear admiral ; for his victory in
Mobile Bay (p. 379) the rank of vice admiral was created for him, and in 1866 a
still higher rank, that of admiral, was made for him. He died in 1870.

2 When it Avas known in New Orleans that Farragut's fleet was coming, the
cotton in the yards and in the cotton presses was hauled on drays to the levee and
burned to prevent its falling into Union hands. The capture of the city had a
great effect on Great Britain and France, both of whom the Confederates hoped
would intervene to stop the war. Slidell, who was in France seeking recogni-
tion for the Confederacy as an independent nation, wrote that he had been led
to believe "that if New Orleans had not been taken and we suffered no very
serious reverses in Virginia and Tennessee, our recognition would very soon
have been declared." Read Battles and Leaders of the Civil War^ Vol. II, pp.
14-21, 91-94.

362

THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

march from Fredericksburg to Richmond, when the proper
time came.

3. McClellan was to take the largest army by water from
Washington to Fort Monroe, and then march up the peninsula
formed by the York and James rivers to the neighborhood of
Richmond, where McDowell was to join him.

Landing at the lower end of the peninsula early in April,
McClellan moved northward to Yorktown, and captured it after
a long siege. McClellan then hurried up the peninsula after
the retreating enemy, and on the way fought and won a battle
at Williamsburg. 1

The Shenandoah Campaign, 1862. — It was now expected
that McDowell, who had been guarding Washington, would join
McClellan, but General T. J. Jackson ^ (Stonewall Jackson),
who commanded the Confederate forces in the Shenandoah,

rushed down the valley and
drove Banks across the Poto-
mac into Maryland. This suc-
cess alarmed the authorities at
Washington, and McDowell
was held in northern Virginia
to protect the capital. Part of
his troops, with those of Banks
and Fremont, were dispatched
against Jackson; but Jackson
won several battles and made,
good his escape.

End of Peninsular Campaign.

— Though deprived of the aid

Thomas J. Jackson. of McDowell, General McClellan

1 The story of the march is interestingly told in " Recollections of a Pri-
vate," in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. II, pp. 189-199.

2 Thomas J. Jackson was born in West Virginia in 1824, graduated from
West Point, served in the Mexican War, resigned from the army, and till 1861
taught in the Virginia State Military Institute at Lexington. He then joined
the Confederate army, and for the firm stand of his brigade at Bull Run gained
the name of "Stonewall."

THE CIVIL WAR, 1861-1863

363

moved westward to within eight or ten miles of Richmond ; but

the Confederate General J. E. Johnston now attacked him at

Fair Oaks. A few weeks later General R. E. Lee,i who had

succeeded Johnston in command, was joined by Jackson; the

Confederates then attacked

McClellan at Mechanicsville

and Gaines Mill and forced

him to retreat, fighting as he

went (June 26 to July 1), to

Harrisons Landing on the

James River. There the Union

army remained till August,

when it went back by water

to the Potomac.

Lee's Raid; Battle of Antie-
tam, 1862. — The departure
of the Union army from Har-
risons Landing left General
Lee free to do as he chose,
and seizing the opportunity
he turned against the Union
forces under General Pope, whose army was drawn up be-
tween Cedar Mountain and Fredericksburg, on the Rappahan-
nock River. Stonewall Jackson first attacked General Banks
at the western end of the line at Cedar Mountain, and beat him.
Jackson and Lee then fell upon General Pope on the old field
of Bull Run, beat him, and forced him to fall back to Washing-
ton, where his army was united with that of McClellan.^ This
done, Lee crossed the Potomac and entered Maryland. McClel-

1 Robert E. Lee was born in Virginia in 1807, a son of " Light Horse "
Harry Lee of tlie Revolutionary army. He was a graduate of West Point, and
served in the Mexican War. After Virginia seceded he left the Union army and
was appointed a major general of Virginia troops, and in 1862 became commander
in chief. At the end of the war he accepted the presidency of Washington
College (now Washington and Lee University) , and died in Lexington, Virginia,
in 1870.

2 Part of McClellan's army had joined Pope before the second battle of
Bull Run.

Robert £. Lee.

364 THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

Ian attacked him at Antietam Creek (September, 1862), where
a bloody battle was fought (sometimes called the battle of
Sharpsburg). Lee was beaten ; but McClellan did not prevent
his recrossing the Potomac into Virginia.^

Fredericksburg, 1862. — McClellan was now removed, and
General A. E. Burnside put in command. The Confederates
meantime had taken position on Marye's Heights on the south
side of the Rappahannock, behind Fredericksburg. The posi-
tion was impregnable ; but in December Burnside attacked it
and was repulsed with dreadful slaughter. The two armies
then went into winter quarters with the Rappahannock between
them.

The Emancipation Proclamation. — Ever since the opening
of the year 1862, the question of slavery in the loyal states and
in the territories had been constantly before Congress. In
April Congress abolished slavery in the District of Columbia
and set free the slaves there with compensation to the owners.
In June it abolished slavery in the territories and freed the
slaves there without compensation to the owners, and in July
authorized the seizure of slaves of persons then in rebellion.

In March Lincoln had asked Congress to help pay for the
slaves in the loyal slave states, if these states would abolish
slavery; but neither Congress nor the states adopted the plan. 2
Lincoln now determined, as an act of war, to free the slaves in
the Confederate states, and when the armies of Lee and McClellan
stood face to face at Antietam, he decided, if Lee was beaten,
to issue an emancipation proclamation. Lee was beaten, and
on September 22, 1862, the proclamation came forth declaring
that on January 1, 1863, "all persons held as slaves" in any
state or part of a state then "in rebellion against the United
States, shall be then, thenceforth, and forever free." The
Confederate states did not return to their allegiance, and on

1 Read " A Woman's Recollections of Antietam," in Battles and Leaders of
the Civil War, Vol. II, pp. 686-695 ; also O. W. Holmes's My Hunt after ''The
Captain.''''

2 West Virginia and Missouri later (1863) provided for gradual emancipation,
and Maryland (1864) adopted a constitution that abolished slavery.

THE CIVIL WAR, 1861-1863 365

January 1, 1863, a second proclamation was issued, declaring
the slaves within the Confederate lines to be free men.

Part of the autograph copy of Lincoln's proclamation of January i, 1863.

1. Lincoln did not abolish slavery anywhere. He eman-
cipated certain slaves.

2. His proclamation did not apply to the loyal slave states
— Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri.

3. It did not apply to such Confederate territory as the
Union armies had conquered; namely, Tennessee, seven counties
in Virginia, and thirteen parishes in Louisiana.

4. Lincoln freed the slaves by virtue of his authority as
commander in chief of the Union armies, "and as a fit and
necessary war measure."

SUMMARY

1. In 1860 and 1861 seven cotton states seceded, formed the Confed-
erate States of America, and elected Jefferson Davis President.

2. The capture of Fort Sumter (April, 1861) and Lincoln's call for troops
were followed by the secession of four more Southern states.

3. In 1861 an attempt was made to drive back the Confederate line in
Virginia; but this ended in disaster at the battle of Bull Run.

4. In 1862 the Peninsular Campaign failed, Pope was defeated at Bull
Run, Lee's invasion of Maryland was ended by the battle of Antietam, and
Burnside met defeat at Fredericksburg.

5. In the West in 1862 the Confederate line was forced back to northern
Mississippi, and New Orleans was captured. Great battles were fought at
Fort Doiielson, Shiloh, Perryville, and Murfreesboro.

6. Oh January 1, 1863, President Lincoln declared free the slaves in the
states and parts of states held by the Confederates.

McM. BRIEF — 22

CHAPTER XXIX

THE CIVIL WAR, 1863-1865

The Gettysburg Campaign, 1863. — After the defeat at Fred-
ericksburg, Burnside was removed, and General Hooker put
in command of the Army of the Potomac. "Fighting Joe," as

Hooker was called, led
his army of 130,000
men against Lee and
Jackson, and after a
stubborn fight at Chan-
cellorsville (May 1-4,
1863) was beaten and
fell back.i In June
Lee once more took the
offensive, rushed down
the Shenandoah valley
to the Potomac River,
crossed Maryland, and
entered Pennsylvania
with the Army of the
Potomac in hot pur-
suit. On reaching Mary-
land General Hooker
was removed and Gen-
eral Meade put in com-
mand.

War in the East, 1863-^5.

On the hills at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the two armies
met, and there (July 1-3) Lee attacked Meade. The struggle

1 Jackson was mortally wounded by a volley from his own men, who mis-
took him and his escort for Union cavalry, in the dusk of evening of the second
day at Chancellorsville. His last words were : " Let us cross over the river and
rest under the shade of the trees."

THE CIVIL WAR, 1863-1865

367

was desperate. About one fourth of the men engaged were
killed or wounded. But the splendid valor of the Union army
prevailed, and Lee was beaten and forced to return to Virginia,
where he remained unmolested till the spring of 1864.1 The
battle of Gettysburg ended Lee's plan for carrying the war into
the North, and from the losses on that field his army never
fully recovered. 2

Battle of Gettysburg. Contemporary drawing.

1 Read " The Third Day at Gettysburg" in Battles and Leaders of the Civil
War^ Vol. Ill, pp. 369-385. The field of Gettysburg is now a national park
dotted with monuments erected in memory of the dead, and marking the posi-
tions of the regiments and spots where desperate fighting occurred. Near by is
a national cemetery in which are interred several thousand Union soldiers. Read
President Lincoln's beautiful Gettysburg Address.

2 With the exception of a small body of regulars, the Union armies were
composed of volunteers. When it became apparent that the war would not end
in a few months, Congress passed a Draft Act : whenever a congressional district
failed to furnish the required number of volunteers, the names of able-bodied
men not already in the army were to be put into a box, and enough names to
complete the number were to be drawn out by a blindfolded man. In July,
1863, when this was done in New York city, a riot broke out and for several
days the city was mob-ruled. Negroes were killed, property was destroyed, and
the rioters were not put down till troops were sent by the government.

368

THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

The Vicksburg campaign.

Vicksburg, 1863. — In

January, 1863, the Confed-
erates held the Mississippi
River only from Vicksburg
to Port Hudson. The cap-
ture of these two towns
would complete the opening
of the river. Grant, there-
fore, determined to capture
Vicksburg. The town stands
on the top of a bluff which
rises straight and steep from
the river, and had been so
strongly fortified on the land
side that to take it seemed
impossible. Grant, having
failed in a direct advance
through Mississippi, cut a
canal across a bend in the river, on the west bank, hoping to
divert the waters and get a passage by the town. This, too,
failed ; and he then de-
cided to cross below Vicks-
burg and attack by land.
To aid him. Admiral
Porter ran his gunboats
past the town on a night
in April and carried the
army across the river.
Landing on the east bank,
Grant won a victory at
Port Gibson, and hearing
that J. E. Johnston was
coming to help Pemberton,
pushed in between them,
beat Johnston, and turning against Pemberton drove him into
Vicksburg. After a siege of seven weeks, in which Vicksburg

Grant's headquarters near Vicksburg.
From a recent photograph.

THE CIVIL WAR, 1863-1865

369

suffered severely from bombardment and famine, Pemberton
surrendered the town and army July 4, 1863.

In less than a week (July 9) Port Hudson surrendered,
the Mississippi was opened from source to mouth, and the Con-
federacy was cut in two.

Chickamauga, 1863. — While Grant was besieging Vicks-
burg, Rosecrans forced a Confederate army under Bragg to
quit its position south of Murfreesboro, and then to leave
Chattanooga and retire into northern Georgia. There Bragg

War in the West, 1863-65, and on the coast.

was reen forced, and he then attacked Rosecrans in the Chicka-
mauga valley (September 19 and 20, 1863), where was fought
one of the most desperate battles of the war. The Union right
wing was driven from the field, but the left wing under Gen-
eral Thomas held the enemy in check and saved the army from
rout. By his firmness Thomas won the name of " the Rock of
Chickamauga."

Chattanooga. — Rosecrans now went back to Chattanooga.
Bragg followed, and, taking position on the hills and mountains
which surround the town on the east and south, shut in the
Union army and besieged it. Hooker was sent from Virginia

370

THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

William T. Sherman.

with more troops, Sherman ^
brought an army from Victs-
burg, Rosecrans was replaced
by Thomas, and Grant was put
in command of all. Then mat-
ters changed. The troops un-
der Thomas (November 23)
seized some low hills at the
foot of Missionary Ridge, east
of Chattanooga. Hooker (No-
vember 24) carried the Con-
federate works on Lookout
Mountain, southwest of the
town, in a fight often called
"the Battle above the Clouds."
Sherman (November 24 and 25) attacked the northern end
of Missionary Ridge. Thomas (November 25) thereupon car-

1 William Tecumseh Sher-
man was born in Ohio in 1820,
graduated from West Point,
and served in the Seminok'
and Mexican wars. He be-
came a banker in San Fran-
cisco, then a lawyer in Kansas,
in 1860 superintendent of a
military school in Louisiana,
and then president of a street
car company in St. Louis. In
1861 he was appointed colonel
in the regular army. He
fought at Bull Run, was made
brigadier general of volunteers,
and was transferred to the
West, where he rose rapidly.
After the war, Grant was made
general of the army, and Sher-
man lieutenant general ; and
when Grant became President,
Sherman was promoted to the
rank of general. He was re-
tired in 1884 and died in 1891
at New York,

THE CIVIL WAR, 1863-1865 371

ried the heights of Missionary Ridge, and drove off the enemy.
Bragg retreated to Dalton in northwestern Georgia, where the
command of his army was given to General J. E. Johnston.

The Plan of Campaign, 1864. — The Confederates had now
but two great armies left. One under Lee was lying quietly
behind the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers, protecting
Richmond ; the other under J. E. Johnston ^ was at Dalton,
Georgia. The two generals chosen to lead the Union
armies against these forces were Grant and
Sherman. Grant (now lieutenant general and
in command of all the armies) with the Army
of the Potomac was to drive Lee back and take
Richmond. Sherman with the forces under
Thomas, McPherson, and Schofield was to at-
tack Johnston and enter Georgia. The Union
soldiers outnumbered the Confederates.

Marching through Georgia. — On May 4,
186-4, accordingly, Sherman moved forward
against Johnston, flanked him out of Dalton,
and drove him, step by step, through the mountains to Atlanta.
Johnston's retreat forced Sherman to weaken his army by
leaving guards in the rear to protect the railroads on which he
depended for supplies ; Johnston intended to attack when he
could fight on equal terms. But his retreat displeased Davis,
and at Atlanta he was replaced by General Hood, who was ex-
pected to fight at once.

In July Hood made three furious attacks, was repulsed,
and in September left Atlanta and started northward. His
purpose was to draw Sherman out of Georgia, but Sherman

1 Joseph Eggleston Johnston was born in Virginia in 1807, graduated from
West Point, and served in the Black Hawk, Seminole, and Mexican wars. When
the Civil War opened, he joined the Confederacy, was made a major general, and
with Beauregard commanded at the first battle of Bull Kun. Johnston was next
put in charge of the operations against McClellan (1862) ; but was wounded at
Fair Oaks and succeeded by Lee. In 1863 he was sent to relieve Vicksburg,
but failed. In 1864 he was put in command of Bragg's army after its defeat,
and so became opposed to Sherman.

372

THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

sent Thomas with part of the army into Tennessee, and after
following Hood for a while,^ turned back to Atlanta.

After partly burning the town, Sherman started for the

seacoast in November, tearing up the railroads, burning

bridges, and living on the country as he went.^ In December

Fort McAllister was taken and Savannah

occupied.

Grant and Lee in Virginia, 1864. — On the
same day in May, 1864, on which Sherman set
out to attack Johnston in Georgia, the Army
of the Potomac began the campaign in Vir-
ginia. General Meade was in command ; but
Grant, as commander in chief of all the Union
armies, directed the campaign in person.
Crossing the Rapidan, the army entered the
Wilderness, a stretch of country covered with
dense woods of oak and pine and thick under-
growth. Lee attacked, and for several days
the fighting was almost incessant. But Grant
pushed on to Spottsylvania Court House and
to Cold Harbor, where bloody battles were
fought ; and then went south of Richmond
and besieged Petersburg.^

Rail twisted around
pole by Sher-
man's men.

In the possession of
the Long Island
Historical Society.

1 Early in October Hood had reached Dallas on his way to Tennessee. From
Dallas he sent a division to capture a garrison and depots at Allatoona, com-
manded by General Corse. Sherman, who was following Hood, communicated
with Corse from the top of Kenesaw Mountain by signals ; and Corse, though
greatly outnumbered, held the fort and drove off the enemy. On this incident
was founded the popular hymn Hold the Fort, for I am Coming.

2 To destroy the railroads so they could not be quickly rebuilt, the rails,
heated red-hot in fires made of burning ties, were twisted around trees or telegraph
poles. Stations, machine shops, cotton bales, cotton gins and presses were burned.
Along the line of march, a strip of country sixty miles wide was made desolate.

3 While the siege of Petersburg was under way, a tunnel was dug and a mine
exploded under a Confederate work called ElHott's Salient (July 30, 1864). As
soon as the mass of flying earth, men, guns, and carriages had settled, a body of
Union troops moved forward through the break thus made in the enemy's line.
But the assault was badly managed. The Confederates rallied, and the Union
forces were driven back into the crater made by the explosion, where many were
killed and 1400 captured.

THE CIVIL WAR, 1863-1865

373

Early's Raid, 1864. — Lee now sought to divert Grant by
an attack on Washington, and sent General Early down the
Shenandoah valley. Early crossed
the Potomac, entered Maryland,
won a battle at the Monocacy
River, and actually threatened the
defenses of Washington, but was
forced to retreat.^

To stop these attacks Grant sent
Sheridan 2 into the valley, where
he defeated Early at Winchester
and at Fishers Hill and again at
Cedar Creek. It was during this
last battle that Sheridan made his
famous ride from Winchester.^ ^^^v H. Sheridan.

1 On October 19, 1864, St. Albans, a town in Vermont near the Canadian
border, was raided by Confederates from Canada. Tliey seized all the horses
they could find, robbed the banks, and escaped. A little later the people of
Detroit were excited by a rumor that their city was to be raided on October 30.
Great preparations for defense were made ; but no enemy came.

2 Philip H, Sheridan was born at Albany, New York, in 1831, graduated
from West Point, and was in Missouri when the war opened. In 1862 he was
given a command in the cavalry, fought in the West, and before the year closed
was made a brigadier and then major general for gallantry in action. At
Chattanooga he led the charge up Missionary Ridge. After the war he be-
came lieutenant general and then general of the army, and died in 1888.

8 Sheridan had spent the night at Winchester, and as he rode toward his
camp at Cedar Creek^ he met such a crowd of wagons, fugitives, and wounded
men that he was forced to take to the fields. At Newtown, the streets
were so crowded he could not pass through them. Riding around the village,
he met Captain McKinley (afterward President), who, says Sheridan, "spread
the news of my return through the motley throng there." Between Newtown
and Middletown he met "the only troops in the presence of and resisting the
enemy. . . . Jumping my horse over the line of rails, I rode to the crest of the
elevation and . . . the men rose up from behind their barricade with cheers of
recognition." When he rode to another part of the field, "a line of regimental
flags rose up out of the ground, as it seemed, to welcome me." With these flags
was Colonel Hayes (afterward President). Hurrying to another place, he came
upon some divisions marching to the front. When the men " saw me, they be-
gan cheering and took up the double-quick to the front." Crossing the pike, he
rode, hat in hand, "along the entire line of infantry," shouting, "We are all
right. . . . Never mind, boys, we'll whip them yet. We sliall sleep in our
quarters to-night." And they did. Read Sheridan's Bide by T. Buchanan Read.

374 THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

The Situation early in 1865. — By 1865, Union fleets and
armies had seized many Confederate strongholds on the coast.
In the West, Thomas had destroyed Hood's army in the great
battle of Nashville (December, 1864). In the East, Grant was
steadily pressing the siege of Petersburg and Richmond, and
Sherman was making ready to advance northward from Savan-
nah. The cause of the Confederacy was so desperate that in
February, 1865, Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the
Confederate States, was sent to meet Lincoln and Secretary
Seward and discuss terms of peace. Lincoln demanded three
things : the disbanding of the Confederate armies, the submis-
sion of the seceded states to the rule of Congress, and the
abolition of slavery. The terms were not accepted, and the war
went on.

Sherman marches northward, 1865. — After resting for a
month at Savannah, Sherman started northward through South
Carolina, (February 17) entered Columbia, the capital of the
state, and forced the Confederates to evacuate Charleston. To
oppose him, a new army was organized and put under the com-
mand of Johnston. But Sherman pressed on, entered North
Carolina, and reached Goldsboro in safety.

The Surrender of Lee, 1865. — Early in April, Lee found him-
self unable to hold Richmond and Petersburg any longer. He
retreated westward. Grant followed, and on April 9, 1865, Lee
surrendered at Appomattox Court House, seventy-five miles
west of Richmond. 1

Fall of the Confederacy. — The Confederacy then went rap-
idly to pieces. Johnston surrendered to Sherman near Raleigh
on April 26; Jefferson Davis was captured at Irwinville,
Georgia, on May 10, and the war on land was over.^

Reelection of Lincoln. — While the war was raging, the time
again came to elect a President and Vice President. The Re-
publicans nominated Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. The Demo-

1 Read Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. IV, pp. 729-746.

2 On the flight of Davis from Richmond, read Battles and Leaders of the
Ciml War, Vol. IV, pp. 762-767 ; or the Century Magazine, November, 1888.

THE CIVIL WAR, 1863-1865 375

crats selected General McClellan and George H. Pendleton.
Lincoln and Johnson were elected and on March 4, 1865, were
inaugurated.

Death of Lincoln. — On the night of April 14, the fourth
anniversary of the day on which Anderson marched out of
Fort Sumter, while Lincoln was seated with his wife and some
friends in a box at Ford's Theater in Washington, he was shot
by an actor who had stolen up behind him.i The next morning
he died, and Andrew Johnson became President.

1 After firing the shot, the assassin waved his pistol and shouted " Sic semper
tyrannis " — " Thus be it ever to tyrants" (the motto of the state of Virginia) —
and jumped from the box to the stage. But his spur caught in an American flag
which draped the box, and he fell and broke his leg. Limping off the stage, he
fled from the theater, mounted a horse in waiting, and escaped to Virginia.
There he was found hidden in a barn and shot. The body of the Martyr Presi-
dent was borne from Washington to Springfield, by the route he took when com-
ing to his first inauguration in 1861. Read Walt Whitman's poem My Captain.

SUMMARY

1. In 1863, Lee repulsed an advance by Hooker's army, and invaded
Pennsylvania, but was defeated by Meade at Gettysburg.

2. In the West, Grant took Vicksburg, and the Mississippi was opened
to the sea. The Confederates defeated Rosecrans at Chickamauga, but
were defeated by Grant and other generals at Chattanooga.

3. In 1864, Grant moved across Virginia, after much hard fighting, and
besieged Petersburg and Richmond, and Sherman marched across Georgia
to Savannah.

4. In 1865, Sherman marched northward into North Carolina, and
Grant forced Lee to leave Richmond and surrender.

5. In 1864, Lincoln was reelected.

6. In April, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated and Johnson became
President.

Sharpshooter's rifle used in the Civil War.

With telescope sight. Weight, 82 lb.

CHAPTER XXX

THE NAVY m THE WAR: LIFE IN WAR TIMES

The Southern Coast Blockade. — The naval war began with
a proclamation of Davis offering commissions to privateers,^

and two by Lincoln
(April 19 and 27,
1861), declaring the
coast blockaded from
Virginia to Texas.

The object of the
blockade was to cut
off the foreign trade
of the Southern states,
and to prevent their
getting supplies of all
sorts. But as Great

Sinking the Petrel. Contemporary drawing.

Britain was one of the chief consumers of Southern cotton, and
was, indeed, dependent on the
South for her supply, it was
certain that unless the block-
ade was made effective by
many Union ships, cotton
would be carried out of the
Southern ports, and supplies
run into them, in spite of
Lincoln's proclamation.

Running the Blockade. —
This is just what was done.

1 The first Confederate privateer to get to sea was the Savannah, She took
one prize and was captured. Another, the Beauregard^ was taken after a short
cruise. A third, the Petrel, mistook the frigate St. Lawrence for a merchant-
man and attempted to take her, but was sunk by a broadside. After a year the
blockade stopped privateering.

376

Cartoon published in i86i.

THE NAVY IN THE WAR 377

Goods of all sorts were brought from Great Britain to the city of
Nassau in the Bahama Islands (map, p. 353). There the goods
were placed on board blockade runners and started for Wil-
mington in North Carolina, or for Charleston. So nicely would
the voyage be timed that the vessel would be off the port some
night when the moon did not shine. Then, with all lights out,
the runner would dash through the line of blockading ships,
and, if successful, would by daylight be safe in port. The
cargo landed, cotton would be taken on board ; and the first
dark night, or during a storm, the runner, again breaking the
blockade, would steam back to Nassau.

The Trent Affair. — Great Britain and France promptly
acknowledged the Confederate States as belligerents. This
gave them the same rights in the ports of Great Britain and
France as our vessels of war. Hoping to secure a recognition
of independence from these countries, the Confederate govern-
ment sent Mason and Slidell to Europe. These two commis-
sioners ran the blockade, went to Havana, and boarded the
British mail steamship Trent. Captain Wilkes of the United
States man-of-war San Jacinto^ hearing of this, stopped the
Trent and took off Mason and Slidell. Intense excitement
followed in our country and in Great Britain,^ which at once
demanded their release and prepared for war. They were re-
leased, and the act of Wilkes was disavowed as an exercise of
" the right of search " which we had always resisted when exer-
cised by Great Britain, and which had been one of the causes
of the War of 1812.

The Cruisers. — While the commerce of the Confederacy
was almost destroyed by the blockade, a fleet of Confederate
cruisers attacked the commerce of the Union.

The most famous of these, the Florida, Alabama, Georgia,

1 Captain Wilkes was congratulated by the Secretary of the Navy, thanked
by the House of Representatives, and given a grand banquet in Boston ; and the
whole country was jubilant. The British minister at Washington was directed
to demand the liberation of the prisoners and "a suitable apology for the ag-
gression," and if not answered in seven days, or if unfavorably answered, was
to return to London at once.

378

THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

and Shenandoah,^ were built or purchased in Great Britain for
the Confederacy, and were suffered to put to sea in spite of the
protests of the United States minister. Once on the ocean they
cruised from sea to sea, destroying every merchant vessel under
our flag that came in their way.

One of them, the Alabama, sailed the ocean unharmed for

two years. She cruised in
the North Atlantic, in the
Gulf of Mexico, in the Car-
ibbean Sea, off the coast of
Brazil, went around the Cape
of Good Hope, entered the
China Sea, came again around
the Cape of Good Hope, and
by way of Brazil and the
Azores to Cherbourg in
France. During the cruise
she destroyed over sixty mer-
chantmen. At Cherbourg the
Alabama was found by the
United States cruiser Kear-
sarge, and one Sunday morn-
ing in June, 1864, the two
met in battle off the coast of
France, and the Alabama was
sunk. 2

Shell lodged in the stern post of the

Kearsarge.

Now in the Ordnance Museum, "Washington

Navy Yard.

1 Early in the war an agent was sent to Great Britain by the Confederate navy
department to procure vessels to be used as commerce destroyers. The Florida
and Alabama were built at Liverpool and sent to sea unarmed. Their guns and
amnmnition were sent in vessels from another British port. The Shenandoah
was purchased at London (her name was then the Sea King) and was met at
Madeira by a tender from Liverpool with men and guns. On her way to Australia,
the Shenandoah destroyed seven of our merchantmen. She then went to Bering
Sea and in one week captured twenty-five whalers, most of which she destroyed.
This was in June, 1865, after the war was over. In August a British ship cap-
tain informed the commander of the Shenandoah that the Confederacy no longer
existed. The Shenandoah was then taken to Liverpool and delivered to the
British government, which turned her over to the United States.

2 Read Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. IV, pp. 600-614.

THE NAVY IN THE WAR

379

Operations along the Coast. — Besides blockading the coast,
the Union navy captured or aided in capturing forts, cities, and
water ways. The forts at the entrance to Pamlico Sound and
Port Royal were captured in 1861. Control of the waters of Pam-
lico and Albemarle ^ sounds was secured in 1862 by the capture
of Roanoke Island, Elizabeth City, Newbern, and Fort Macon
(map, p. 369). In 1863 Fort Sumter was battered down in a
naval attack on Charleston. In 1864 Farragut led his fleet into
Mobile Bay (in southern Alabama), destroyed the Confederate
fleet, captured the forts at the entrance to the bay, and thus
cut the city of Mobile ofP from the sea. In 1865 Fort Fisher,
which guarded the entrance to Cape Fear River, on which was
Wilmington, fell before a combined attack by land and naval
forces.

On the Inland Waters. — On the great water ways of the
West the notable deeds of the navy were the capture of Fort
Henry on the Tennes-
see by Foote's flotilla
(p. 358), the capture of
New Orleans by Farragut
(p. 361), and the run of
Porter's fleet past the
batteries at Vicksburg
(p. 368).

The Monitor and the
Merrimac. — But the most ^°' '^ ^''^'''' ^^^^'^^^ ^^'^^^ Vicksburg.
famous of all the naval engagements was that of the Monitor
and the Merrimac in 1862. When the war opened, there were
at the navy yard at Norfolk, Virginia, a quantity of guns, stores,
supplies, and eleven vessels. The officer in command, fearing

1 In 1864 a Confederate ironclad ram, the Albemarle, appeared on the
waters of Albemarle Sound. As no Union -war ship could harm her, Com-
mander W. B. Gushing planned an expedition to destroy her by a torpedo. On
the night of October 27, with fourteen companions in a steam launch, he made
his way to the ram, blew her up with the torpedo, and with one other man
escaped. His adventures on the way back to the fleet read like fiction, and are
told by himself in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. IV, pp. 634-640.

380 THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

that they would fall into Confederate hands, set fire to the
houses, shops, and vessels, and abandoned the place. One of
the vessels which was burned to the water's edge and sunk was
the steam frigate Merrimac. Finding her hull below the
water line unhurt, the Confederates raised the Merrimac^
turned her into an ironclad ram, renamed her Virginia^ and
sent her forth to destroy a squadron of United States vessels
at anchor in Hampton Roads (at the mouth of the James River).
Steaming across the roads one day in March, 1862, the Mer-
rimac rammed and sank the Qumherland^ forced the Congress

to surrender, and set her
on fire. This done, the
Merrimac withdrew, in-
tending to resume the
work of destruction on
the^ morrow ; for her
iron armor had proved
to be ample protection
against the guns of the
Union ships. But the
next morning, as she
Merrimac and Monitor. ^ame near the Minne-

sota^ the strangest-looking craft afloat came forth to meet her.
Its deck was almost level with the water, and was plated with
sheets of iron. In the center of the deck was an iron-plated
cylinder which could be revolved by machinery, and in this
were two large guns. This was the Monitor,^ which had arrived

1 The hole made in the Cumberland by the Merrimac was "large enough^
for a man to enter." Through this the water poured in so rapidly that the sick,
wounded, and many who were not disabled were carried down with the ship.
After she sank, the fla,2: at the masthead still waved above the water. Read
Longfellow's poem The Cumberland.

2 The Monitor was designed by John Ericsson, who was born in Sweden in
1803. After serving as an engineer in the Swedish army, he went to England ;
and then came to our country in 1880. He was the inventor of the first prac-
tical screw propeller for steamboats, and by his invention of the revolving turret
for war vessels he completely changed naval architecture. His name is con-
nected with many great inventions. He died in 1889.

THE NAVY IN THE WAR 381

in the Roads the night before, and now came out from behind
the Minnesota to fight the Merrimac, During four hours the
battle raged with apparently no result ; then the Merrimac
withdrew and the Monitor took her place beside the Minnesota.^
This battle marks the doom of wooden naval vessels ; all the
nations of the world were forced to build their navies anew.

Finances of the War. — Four years of war on land and sea
cost the people of the North an immense sum of money. To
obtain the money Congress began (1861) by raising the tariff ^
on imported articles ; by taxing all incomes of more than 1800 a
year ; and by levying a direct tax, which was apportioned among
the states according to their population.^ But the money
from these sources was not sufficient, and (1862) an internal
revenue tax was resorted to, and collected by stamp duties. ^
Even this tax did not yield enough money, and the government
was forced to borrow on the credit of the United States. Bonds
were issued,* and then United States notes, called "greenbacks,"
were put in circulation and made legal tender ; that is, every-
body had to take them in payment of debts.^

Money in War Time. — After the government began to issue
paper money, the banks suspended specie payment, and all gold
and silver coins, including the 3, 5, 10, 25, and 50 cent pieces,
disappeared from circulation. The people were then without
small change, and for a time postage stamps and " token "
pieces of brass and copper were used instead. In March, 1863,

1 When the Confederates evacuated Norfolk some months later, the Merri-
mac was blown up. The Monitor, in December, 1862, went down in a storm at sea.

2 As the right of a State to secede was not acknowledged, this direct tax of
$20,000,000 was apportioned among the Confederate as well as among the Union
states. The Confederate states, of course, did not pay their share.

8 Deeds, mortgages, bills of lading, bank checks, patent medicines, wines,
liquors, tobacco, proprietary articles, and many other things were taxed. Be-
tween 1862 and 1865 about $780,000,000 was raised in this way.

* Between July 1, 1861, and August 31, 1865, bonds to the amount of
$1,109,000,000 were issued and sold.

5 The Legal Tender Act, wliich authorized the issue of greenbacks, was
enacted in 1862, and two years later $440,000,000 were in circulation. The
greenbacks could not be used to pay duties on imports or interest on the public
debt, which were payable in specie.

MCM, BRIEF 23

382 THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

however, Congress authorized the issue of $50,000,000 in paper
fractional currency. ^ Both the greenbacks and the fractional
currency were merely promises to pay money. As the govern-
ment did not pay on demand, coin commanded a premium; that
is, 1100 in gold or silver could be exchanged in the market
(down till 1879) for more than flOO in paper money.

National Banks. — Besides the paper money issued by the
government there were in circulation several thousand different
kinds of state bank notes. Some had no value, some a little
value, and others were good for the sums (in greenbacks) ex-
pressed on their faces. In order to replace these notes by a
sound currency having the same value everywhere. Congress
(1863) established the national banking system. Legally or-
ganized banking associations were t» purchase United States
bonds and deposit them with the government. Each bank so
doing was then entitled to issue national bank notes to the
value of ninety per cent^ of the bonds it had deposited. Many
banks accepted these terms; but it was not till (1865) after
Congress taxed the notes of state banks that those notes were
driven out of circulation.

Cost of the War. — Just what the war cost can never be fully
determined. Hundreds of thousands of men left occupations
of all sorts and joined the armies. What they might have
made had they stayed at home was what they lost by going to
the front. Every loyal state, city, and county, and almost every
town and village, incurred a war debt. The national govern-
ment during the war spent for war purposes $3,660,000,000. To
this must be added the value of our merchant ships destroyed
by Confederate cruisers; the losses in the South; and many
hundred millions paid in pensions to soldiers and their widows.

The loss in the cities and towns burned or injured by siege
and the other operations of war, and the loss caused by the
ruin of trade and commerce and the destruction of railroads,

1 This paper fractional currency consisted of small paper bills in denomin?
tions of 3, 5, 10, 15, 25, and 50 cents. Read tlie account in Rhodes's History of
the U. S., Vol. V, pp. 191-196. « In 1902 changed to one hundred per cent.

LIFE IN WAR TIMES 383

farms, plantations, crops, and private property, can not be fully
estimated, but it was very great.

The most awful cost was the loss of life. On the Union side
more than 360,000 men were killed, or died of wounds or of
disease. On the Confederate side the number was nearly if
not quite as large, so that some 700,000 men perished in tKe
war. Many were young men with every prospect of a long life
before them, and their early death deprived their country of
the benefit of their labor.

Distress in the South. — In the North the people suffered
little if any real hardship. In the South, after the blockade
became effective, the people suffered privations. Not merely
luxuries were given up, but the necessaries of life became
scarce. Thrown on their own resources, the people resorted to
all manner of makeshifts. To get brine from which salt could
be obtained by evaporation, the earthen floors of smokehouses,
saturated by the dripping of bacon, were dug up and washed,
and barrels in which salt pork had been packed were soaked in
water. Tea and coffee ceased to be used, and dried blackberry,
currant, and raspberry leaves were used instead. Rye, wheat,
chicory, chestnuts roasted and ground, did duty for coffee.
The spinning wheel came again into use, and homespun clothing,
dyed with the extract of black-walnut bark, or with wild indigo,
was generally worn. As articles were scarce, prices rose, and
then went higher and higher as the Confederate money depre-
ciated, like the old Continental money in Revolutionary times.
In 1864 Mrs. Jefferson Davis states that in Richmond a turkey
cost 160, a barrel of flour 1300, and a pair of shoes $150. No
little suffering was caused for want of medicines,^ woolen goods,
blankets,^ shoes, paper,^ and in some of the cities even bread

1 When Sherman was in command at Memphis, a funeral procession was
allowed to pass beyond the Union lines. The coffin, however, was full of medi-
cines for the Confederate army.

2 Blankets were sometimes made of cow hair, or long moss from the sea-
board, and even carpets were cut up and sent as blankets to the army.

3 The newspapers of the time give evidence of the scarcity of paper. Some
arft printed on half sheets, a few on brown paper, and some on note paper.

384 THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

became scarce.^ To get food for the army the Confederate
Congress (1863) authorized the seizure of supplies for the troops
and payment at fixed prices which were far below the market
rates. 2

Some men made fortunes by blockade running, smuggling
from the North, and speculation in stocks. Dwellers on the
great plantations, remote from the operations of the contending
armies, suffered not from want of food ; but the great body of
the people had much to endure.

1 Riots of women, prompted by the high prices of food, occurred in Atlanta,
Mobile, Richmond, and other places.

2 Read " War Diary of a Union Woman in the South," in the Century Maga-
zine, October, 1889; Rhodes's History of the U. S., Vol. V, pp. 343-384.

SUMMARY

1. The operations of the navy comprised (1) the blockade of the coast
of the Confederate States, (2) the capture of seaports, (3) the pursuit and
capture of Confederate cruisers, and (4) aiding the army on the western
rivers.

2. A notable feature in the naval war was the use of ironclad vessels.
These put an end to the wooden naval vessels, and revolutionized the navies
of the world.

3. The cost of the war* in human life, money, and property destroyed
was immense, and can be stated only approximately.

4. In the South, as the war progressed, the hardships endured by the
mass of the people caused much suffering.

Loading a naval cannon in the Civil War.

Contemporary drawing.

CHAPTER XXXI

RECONSTRUCTION

Three Issues. — After the collapse of the Confederacy, our
countrymen were called on to meet three issues arising directly
from the war : —

1. The first was, What shall be done to destroy tjie institu-
tion of slavery?^

2. The second was, What shall be done with the late Con-
federate states? 2

3. The third had to do with the national debt and the
currency.

The Thirteenth Amendment. — When the war ended, slavery
had been abolished in Maryland, Missouri, and West Virginia,
by gradual or immediate abolition acts, and in Tennessee by a
special emancipation act. In order that it might be done away
with everywhere Congress (in January, 1865) sent out to the

1 A closely related question was, What shall be done for the negroes set free
by the Emancipation Proclamation ? During the war, as the Union armies
occupied more and more of Confederate territory, the number of freedmen
within the lines grew to hundreds of thousands. Many were enlisted as soldiers,
others were settled on abandoned or confiscated lands, and societies were organ-
ized to aid them. In 1865, however. Congress established the Freedmen's
Bureau to care for them. Tracts of confiscated land were set apart to be granted
in forty-acre plots, and the bureau was to find the negroes work, establish schools
for them, and protect them from injustice.

2 When the eleven Southern states passed their ordinances of secession, they
claimed to be out of the Union. As to this there were in the North three dif-
ferent views. (1) Lincoln held that no state could secede ; that the people of
the seceding states were insurgents or persons engaged in rebellion ; that when
the rebellion was crushed in any state, loyal persons could again elect senators and
representatives, and thus resume their old relations to the Union. (2) Others
held that these states had ceased to exist; that nothing but their territory
remained, and that Congress could do what it pleased with this territory.
(3) Between these extremes were most of the Republican leaders, who held
that these states had lost their rights under the Constitution, and that only Con-
gress could restore them to the Union.

385

386 THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

states a Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, de-
claring slavery abolished throughout the United States. In
December, 1865, three fourths of the states having ratified, it
became part of the Constitution, and slavery was no more.

Reconstruction. — After the death of Lincoln, the work of
reconstruction was taken up by his successor, Johnson. ^ He
recognized the governments established by loyal persons in
Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, and Louisiana. For the other
states he appointed provisional governors and authorized con-
ventions to be called. These conventions repudiated the
Confederate debt, repealed the ordinances of secession, and
ratified the Thirteenth Amendment.

This done, Johnson considered these states as reconstructed
and entitled to send senators and representatives to Congress.
But Congress thought otherwise and would not admit their
senators and representatives. Johnson then denied the right
of Congress to legislate for the states not represented in Con-
gress. He vetoed many bills which chiefly affected the South,
and in the summer of 1866 made speeches denouncing Con-
gress for its action.

The Fourteenth Amendment. — One measure which President
Johnson would have vetoed if he could, was a Fourteenth
Amendment to the Constitution which Congress proposed
in 1866. Ten of the former Confederate states rejected it,
as did also four of the Union states. Congress, therefore, in
March, 1867, passed over the veto a Reconstruction Act setting
forth what the states would have to do to get back into the
Union. One condition was that they must ratify the Four-
teenth Amendment; when they had done so, and when the

1 Andrew Johnson was born in North Carolina in 1808. He never went to
school, and when ten years old was apprenticed to a tailor. When eighteen, he
went to Tennessee, where he married and was taught to read and write by his
wife. He was a man of ability, was three years alderman and three years
mayor of Greenville, was three times elected a member of the legislature, six
times a member of Congress, and twice governor of Tennessee. When the
war opened, he was a Democratic senator from Tennessee, and stoutly opposed
secession. In 1862 Lincoln made him military governor of Tennessee. In 1875
he was again elected United States senator, but died the same year.

KECONSTRUCTION 387

amendment had become a part of the Constitution^ they were to
be readmitted.

Southern States Readmitted. — Six states — North Carolina,
South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Arkansas —
submitted, and the amendment having become a part of the
Constitution, they were (1868) declared again in the Union.
Tennessee had been readmitted in 1866. Virginia, Mississippi
and Texas were not readmitted till 1870, and Georgia not till
1871.

The Debt and the Currency. — The financial question to be
settled included two parts: What shall be done with the bonds
(p. 381)? and What shall be done with the paper money? As to
the first, it was decided to pay the bonds as fast as possible,^ and
by 1873 some 1500,000,000 were paid. As to the second, it was
at first decided to cancel (instead of reissuing) the greenbacks as
they came into the treasury in payment of taxes and other debts
to the government. But after the greenbacks in circulation had
been thus reduced (from $449,000,000) to 1356,000,000, Con-
gress ordered that their cancellation should stop.

Johnson Impeached. — The President meantime had been
impeached. In March, 1867, Congress passed (over Johnson's
veto) the Tenure of Office Act, depriving him of power to re-
move certain officials. He might suspend them till the Senate
examined into the cause of suspension. If it approved, the
officer was removed. If it disapproved, he was reinstated.^

Johnson soon disobeyed the law. In August, 1867, he asked
Secretary-of-War Stanton to resign, and when Stanton refused,

1 Some of these bonds (issued after March, 1863) contained the provision
that they should be paid "in coin." But others (issued in 1862) merely pro-
vided that the interest should be paid in coin. Now, greenbacks were legal
tender for all debts except duties on imports and interest on the bonds. A
demand was therefore made that the early bonds should be paid in greenbacks;
also that all government bonds (which had been exempted from taxation) should
be taxed like other property. This idea was so popular in Ohio that it was called
the "Ohio idea," and its supporters were nicknamed " Greenbackers. " To
put an end to this question Congress (1869) provided that all bonds should be
paid in coin.

2 This Tenure of Office Act was afterward repealed (partly in 1869, and
partly in 1887).

388

THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

suspended him. The Senate disapproved and reinstated Stan-
ton. But Johnson then removed him and appointed another
man in his place. For this act, and for his speeches against
Congress, the House impeached the President, and the Senate
tried him, for " high crimes and misdemeanors." He was not
found guilty. 1

Republican cartoon of 1868.

"Blood will tell! The great race for the presidential sweepstakes, between the Western War
Horse U. S, Grant and the Manhattan Donkey."

Grant elected President, 1868. — In the midst of Johnson's
quarrel with Congress the time came to elect his successor.
The Democratic party nominated Horatio Seymour. The Re-
publicans chose Ulysses S. Grant and elected him.

Grant's first term is memorable because of the adoption of
the Fifteenth Amendment ; the restoration to the Union of

1 There have been eight cases of impeachment of ofl&cers of the United
States. The House begins by sending a committee to the Senate to impeach, or
accuse, the officer in question. The Senate then organizes itself as a court
with the Vice President as the presiding officer, and fixes the time for trial.
The House presents articles of impeachment, or specific charges of misconduct,
and appoints a committee to take charge of its side of the case. The accused is
represented by lawyers, witnesses are examined, arguments made, and the
decision rendered by vote of the senators. When a President is impeached, the
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides in place of the Vice President.

RECONSTRUCTION 389

the last four of the former Confederate states, Virginia,
Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas ; the disorder in the South ;
and the character of our foreign relations.

The Fifteenth Amendment. — Encouraged by their success at
the polls, the Republicans went on with the work of reconstruc-
tion, and (in February, 1869) Congress sent out the Fifteenth
Amendment to the Constitution.

By the Fourteenth Amendment the states were left (as
before) to settle for themselves who should and who should
not vote. But if any state denied or in any way abridged the
right of any portion of its male citizens over twenty-one years
old to vote. Congress was to reduce the number of representa-
tives from that state in Congress in the same proportion. But
now by the Fifteenth Amendment each state was forbidden to
deprive any man of the right to vote because of his "race, color,
or previous condition of servitude." In March, 1870, the
amendment went into force, having been ratified by a sufficient
number of states.

Carpetbag Rule. — President Grant began his administra-
tion in troubled times. The Reconstruction Act had secured
the negro the right to vote. Many Southern states were
thereby given over to negro rule. Seeing this, a swarm of
Northern politicians called " carpetbaggers " went south, made
themselves political leaders of the ignorant freed men, and
plundered and misgoverned the states. In this they were aided
by a few Southerners who supported the negro cause and were
called "scalawags." But most of the Southern whites were
determined to stop the misgovernment ; and, banded together
in secret societies, called by such names as Knights of the White
Camelia, and the Ku-Klux-Klan, they terrorized the negroes
and kept them from voting. ^

Force Act. — Such intimidation was in violation of the
Fifteenth Amendment. Congress therefore enacted the " Ku-

1 Read A FooVs Errand, by A. W. Tourg^e, and Red Rock, by Thomas
^m Nelson Page — two interesting novels describing life in the South during this

390

THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

Klax Act," or Force Act (1871), which prescribed fine and
imprisonment for any one convicted of hindering or attempt-
ing to hinder a negro from voting, or his vote when cast from
being counted.

Rise of the Liberal Republicans. — The troubles which
followed the enforcement of this act led many to think
that the government had gone too far, and a more lib-
eral treatment of the South was demanded. Many com-
plained that the civil service of the government was used
to reward party workers, and that fitness for office was not
duly considered. There was opposition to the high tariff.
These and other causes now split the Republican party in the
West and led to the formation of the Liberal Republican party.

Foreign Relations.
— Our foreign rela-
tions since the close
of the Civil War
present many mat-
ters of importance.
In 1867 Alaska ^ was
purchased from Rus-
sia for $7,200,000.
At the opening of
the war France sent
troops to Mexico,
overthrew the gov-
ernment, and set up
an empire with Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, as emperor.
This was a violation of the Monroe Doctrine (p. 282). When

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Cartoon of 1862.

Say, Missus [Mexico], me and these other gents 'ave come to
nurse you a bit." *

^ Soon after the purchase a few small Alaskan islands were leased to a fur
company for twenty years, and during that time nearly $7,000,000 was paid into
the United States treasury as rental and royalty. Besides seals and fish, much
gold has been obtained in Alaska.

2 When France first interfered in Mexican affairs, it was in conjunction
with Great Britain and Spain, on the pretext of aiding Mexico to provide for lier
debts to these powers. But when France proceeded to overthrow the Mexican
government, Great Britain and Spain withdrew.

RECON STRUCTIOI^ 391

the war was over, therefore, troops were sent to the Rio Grande,
and a demand was made on France to recall her troops. The
French army was withdrawn, and Maximilian was captured by
the Mexicans and shot. These things happened while Johnson
was President.

Santo Domingo. — In 1869 Grant negotiated a treaty for the
annexation of the negro republic of Santo Domingo, and
urged the Senate to ratify it. When the Senate failed to
do so, he made a second appeal, with a like result.

Alabama Claims. — In 1871 the treaty of Washington was
signed, by which several outstanding subjects of dispute with
Great Britain were submitted to arbitration. (1) Chief of these
were the Alabama claims for damage to the property of our
citizens by the Confederate cruisers built or purchased in Great
Britain. 1 The five^ arbitrators met at Geneva in 1872 and
awarded us 115,500,000 in gold as indemnity. (2) A dispute
over the northeastern fisheries^ was referred to a commission
which met at Halifax and awarded Great Britain 85,500,000.
(3) The same treaty provided that a dispute over a part of the

1 The cruisers were the Alabama, Sumter, Shenandoah, Florida, and others
(p. 378). We claimed that Great Britain had not done her duty as a neutral ; that
she ought to have prevented their building, arming, or equipping in her ports and
sailing to destroy the commerce of a friendly nation, and that, not having done
so, she was responsible for the damage they did. We claimed damages for (1)
private losses by destruction of ships and cargoes ; (2) high rates of insurance
paid by citizens ; (3) cost of pursuing the cruisers ; (4) transfer of American
merchant ships to the British flag ; (5) prolongation of the war because of rec-
ognition of the Confederate States as belligerents, and the resulting cost to us.
Great Britain denied that 2, 3, 4, and 5 were subject to arbitration, and it looked
for a while as if the arbitration would come to naught. The tribunal decided
against 2, 4, and 5 on principles of international law, and made no award for 3.

2 One was appointed by the President, one by Great Britain, one by the King
of Italy, one by the President of the Swiss Confederation, and one by the Em-
peror of Brazil. In 1794-1004 there were fifty-seven cases submitted to arbitra-
tion, of which twenty were with Great Britain.

^ The question was, whether the privilege granted citizens of the United
States to catch fish in the harbors, bays, creeks, and shores of the provinces of
Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island was more
valuable than the privilege granted British subjects to catch fish in harbors, bays,
creeks, and off the coast of the United States north of 39°. The commission
decided that it was.

392 THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

northwest boundary should be submitted to the emperor of
Germany as arbitrator. He decided in favor of our claim, thus
confirming our possession of the small San Juan group of islands,
in the channel between Vancouver and the mainland.

Cuba. — In 1868 the people of Cuba rebelled against Spain,
proclaimed a republic, and began a war which lasted nearly ten
years. American ships were seized, our citizens arrested ;
American property in Cuba was destroyed or confiscated ; and
our ports were used to fit out filibusters to aid the Cubans.
Because of these things and the sympathy felt in our country
for the Cubans, Grant made offers of mediation, which Spain
declined. As the war continued, the question of giving the
Cubans rights of belligerents, and recognizing their independ-
ence, was urged on Congress.

While these issues were undecided, a vessel called the Vir-
ginius^ flying our flag, was seized by Spain as a filibuster, and
fifty- three of her passengers and crew were put to death (1873).
War seemed likely to follow ; but Spain released the ship and
survivors, and later paid i80,000 to the families of the mur-
dered men.

SUMMARY

1. The end of the Civil War brought up several issues for settlement.

2. Out of the negro problem came the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and
Fifteenth amendments to the Constitution.

3. Out of the issue of readmitting the Confederate states into the Union
grew a serious quarrel with President Johnson.

4. Congress passed the Reconstruction Act over Johnson's veto (1867),
and by 1868 seven states were back in the Union.

5. Johnson's intemperate speeches and his violation of an act of Con-
gress led to his impeachment and trial. He was not convicted.

6. Johnson was succeeded by Grant, in whose administration the re-
maining Southern states were readmitted to the Union; but the condition
of the South, under carpetbag government, became worse than ever, and led
to the passage of the Force Act.

7. Our foreign relations after the end of the war are memorable for the
purchase of Alaska, the withdrawal of the French from Mexico, the treaty
with Great Britain for the settlement of several old issues, the attempt of
Grant to purchase Santo Domingo, and the Virginius affair with Spain.

CHAPTER XXXn

GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1860 TO 1880

The West. — In 1860 the great West bore little resemblance
to its present appearance. The only states wholly or partly
west of the Mississippi River were Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri,
Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, California, and Oregon. Kansas
territory extended from Missouri to the Rocky Mountains.
Nebraska territory in-
cluded the region from
Kansas to the British pos-
sessions, and from Minne-
sota and Iowa to the Rocky
Mountains. New Mexico
territory stretched from
Texas to California, Utah
territory from the Rocky
Mountains to California,
and Washington terri-
tory from the mountains
to the Pacific.

Gold and Silver Min-
ing.— One decade, how-
ever, completely changed the West. In 1858 gold was discov-
ered on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, near Pikes
Peak ; gold hunters rushed thither, Denver was founded, and
in 1861 Colorado was made a territory. Kansas, reduced to
its present limits, was admitted as a state the same year, and
the northern part of Nebraska territory was cut off and called
Dakota territory (map, p. 352).

In 1859 silver was discovered on Mount Davidson (then in
western Utah), and population poured thither. Virginia City

Scene in a new mining town.

Deadwood, Dakota, in the 'TO's.

115 Longitude llQ West 105 from 100 Greenwich 95

394

GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1860 TO 1880 395

sprang into existence, and in 1861 Nevada was made a territory
and in 1864, with enlarged boundaries, was admitted into the
Union as a state.

Precious metals were found in 1862 in what was then
eastern Washington; the old Fort Boise of the Hudson's Bay
Company became a thriving town, other settlements were
made, and in 1863 the territory of Idaho was organized. In
the same year Arizona was cut off from New Mexico.

Hardly had this been done when gold was found on the
Jefferson fork of the Missouri River. Bannack City, Virginia
City, and Helena were founded, and in 1864 Montana was made
a territory. 1

In 1867 Nebraska became a state, and the next year
Wyoming territory was formed.

Overland Trails. — When Lincoln was inaugurated in 1861,
no railroad crossed the plains. The horse, the stagecoach, the
pack train, the prairie schooner, ^ were the means of transporta-
tion, and but few routes of travel were well defined. The
Great Salt Lake and California trail, starting in Kansas, fol-
lowed the north branch of the Platte River to the mountains,
crossed the South Pass, and went on by way of Salt Lake City
to Sacramento. Over this line, once each week, a four-horse
Concord coach ^ started from each end of the route.

From Independence in Missouri another line of coaches
carried the mail over the old Santa Fe trail to New Mexico.

The great Western mail route began at St. Louis, went
across Missouri and Arkansas, curved southward to El Paso
in Texas, and then by way of the Gila River to Los Angeles
and San Francisco; the distance of 2729 miles was covered in
twenty-four days.*

1 For descriptions of the wild life in the new Northwest in the pioneer days
read Langford's Vigilante Days and Ways.

2 A large wagon with a white canvas top.

8 A kind of heavy coach, so called because first manufactured at Concord,
New Hampshire.

* When the war opened and Texas seceded, this route was abandoned, and
after April, 1861, letters and passengers went from St. Joseph by way of Salt
Lnke City to California.

396

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Pony Express. — This was too slow for business men, and in
1860 the stage company started the Pony Express to carry
letters on horseback from St. Joseph to San Francisco.
Mounted on a swift pony, the rider, a brave, cool-headed, picked
man, would gallop at breakneck speed to the first relay station,

Overland mail coach starting from San Francisco for the East in 1858.
Contemporary drawing.

jump on the back of another pony and speed away to the
second, mount a fresh horse and be off for a third. At
the third station he would find a fresh rider mounted, who, the
moment the mail bags had been fastened to his horse, would
ride off to cover his three stations in as short a time as pos-
sible. The riders left each end of the route twice a week

GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1860 TO 1880 397

or oftener. The total distance, about two thousand miles,
was passed over in ten days.^

In the large cities of the East free delivery of letters by
carriers was introduced (1863), the postal money order system
was adopted (1864), and trials were made with postal cars in
which the mail was sorted while en route.

The Telegraph. — Meanwhile Congress (in J*une, 1860)
incorporated the Pacific Telegraph Company to build a line
across the continent. By November the line reached Fort
Kearny, where an operator was installed in a little sod hut.
By October, 1861, the two lines, one building eastward from
California, and the other westward from Omaha, reached Salt
Lake City. The charge for a ten-word message from New
York to Salt Lake City was $7.50.

When the telegraph line was finished, the work of the Pony
Express ended, and all letters went by the overland stage line,
whose coaches entered every large mining center, carrying pas-
sengers, express matter, and the mail.^

Overland Freight. — The discovery of gold in western
Kansas, in 1858, and the founding of Denver, led to a great
freight business across the plains. Flour, bacon, sugar, coffee,
dry goods, hardware, furniture, clothing, came in immense

1 All letters had to be written on the thinnest paper, and no more than twenty
pounds' weight was allowed in each of the two pouches. The trail was infested
with "road agents" (robbers), and roving bands of Indians were ever ready to
murder and scalp; but in summer and winter, by day and night, over the plains
and over the mountains, these brave men made their dangerous rides, carrying
no arms save a revolver and a knife. Each letter had to be inclosed in a ten-
cent stamped envelope and have on it in addition for each half ounce five one-
dollar stamps of the Pony Express Company. The story of the Pony Express is
told in Henry Inman's Great Salt Lake Trail, Chap. viii.

2 As the government had no post offices in the mining camps, the stage
company became the postmasters, delivered the letters, and charged twenty-five
cents for each. Sometimes the owner of a little store in a remote mountain
camp would act as postmaster, and charge a high price for sending letters to or
bringing them from the nearest stage station. One such used a barrel for the
letter box, and sent the mail once a month. A hole was cut in the head of
the barrel, and beside it was posted a notice which read : " This is a Post Office.
Shove a quarter through the hole with your letter. We have no use for stamps
as I carry the mail."

398 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

quantities to Omaha, St. Josepli, Atchison, Leavenworth,
thence to be hauled to the "diggings." Atchison became a
trade center. There, in the spring of 1860, might have been
seen hundreds of wagons, and tons of goods piled on the levee,
and warehouses full of provisions, boots, shoes, and clothing.
From it, day after day, went a score of prairie schooners drawn
by horses, mules, or oxen.i

The Railroad. — The idea of a railroad over the plains was,
as we have seen, an old one ; but at last, in 1862, Congress
chartered two railroad companies to build across the public
domain from the Missouri River to California. One, the
Union Pacific, was to start at Omaha and build westward.
The other, the Central Pacific, was to start in California and
build eastward till the two met. Work was begun in Novem-
ber, 1865, and in May, 1869, the two lines were joined at Prom-
ontory Point, near Salt Lake City.

As the railroad progressed, the overland coaches plied
between the ends of the two sections, their runs growing
shorter and shorter till, when the road was finished, the over-
land stagecoach was discontinued.

The Homestead Law. — When the Union Pacific and Central
Pacific railroads were chartered, they were given immense land
grants; 2 but in the same year (1862) the Homestead Law was

1 The lighter articles went in wagons drawn by four or six horses or mules,
the heavier in great wagons drawn by six and eight yoke of oxen, which made the
trip to Denver in five weeks. The cost of provisions brought in this way was very
great. Thus in 1865, in Helena, Montana, flour sold for $85 a sack of one hun-
dred pounds. Potatoes cost fifty cents in gold a pound, and coal oil, at Virginia
City, $10 in gold a gallon. Board and lodgings rose in proportion, and it was
not uncommon to see posted in the boarding houses such notices as this:
" Board with bread at meals, §32 ; board without bread, $22." Read Hough's
The Way to the West, pp. 200-221.

2 Every other section in a strip of land twenty miles wide along the entire
length of the railroad. The government had always been liberal in granting
land to aid in the construction of roads, canals, and railroads, and between 1827
and 1860 had given away for such purposes 215,000,000 acres. Had these acres
been in one great tract it would have been seven times as large as Peimsylvania.
In 1862 Congress also added to its grants for educational purposes (p. 801 ) by
giving to each state from 90,000 to 990,000 acres of public land in aid of a college
for teaching agriculture and the mechanical arts.

GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY FROM lS60 TO 1880 399

enacted. Under the provisions of this law a farm of 80 or 160
acres in the public domain might be secured by any head of a
family or person twenty-one years old who was a citizen of our
country or had declared an Intention to become such, provided
he or she would live on the farm and cultivate it for five years. ^
Between 1863 and 1870, 103,000 entries for 12,000,000 acres
were made. This showed that the people desired the land, and
was one reason why no more should be given to corporations.

Northern Pacific Railroad. — In 1864 Congress had chartered
a railroad for the new Northwest, and had given the company
an immense land grant. But building did not begin till 1870.
All went well till 1873, when a great panic swept over the
country and the road became bankrupt. It then extended
from Duluth to Bismarck. Two years later the company was
reorganized, and the road was finished in 1883. ^

Wheat Fields of Dakota. — During the panic certain of the
directors of the road bought great tracts of land from the
company, paying for them with the railroad bonds. On some
of these lands in the valley of the Red River of the North an
attempt was made to raise wheat in 1876. It proved successful,
and the next year a wave of emigration set strongly toward
Dakota. In 1860 there were not 5000 people in Dakota; in
1870 there were but 14,000, mostly miners ; in 1880 there were
135,000.

Prairie Homes. — These newcomers — homesteaders, as they
were often called — broke up the prairie, planted wheat, raised
sheep and cattle, and lived at first in a dugout, or hole dug in
the side of a depression in the prairie. This was roofed (about
the level of the prairie) with thick boards covered with sods.
After a year or two in such a home the settler would build a
sod house. The walls, two feet thick, were made of sods cut
like great bricks from the prairie. The roof would be of
boards covered with shingles or oftener with sods, and the

1 For conditions on which land could be secured before this, see p. 302.

2 The history of the railroads across the continent is told in Cy. Warman's
Story of the Railroad; for the Noithern Pacific, read pp. 179-196.

Mom. brief — 24

400

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Log cabin with sod roof.

walls inside would sometimes be whitewashed. Near water-
courses a few settlers found enough trees to make log cabins.

The Ranches. — Stretching across the country from Montana
and Dakota to Arizona lay the grass region, the great ranch
country, where herds of cattle grazed and were driven to the
railroads to be taken to market. In later years this became
also the greatest sheep-raising and wool-producing region in
the Union.

Buffaloes and Indians. — With the building of the rail-
roads and the coming of the settlers the reckless slaughter of
the buffalo and the crowding of the Indians began. ^ To-day

1 "White men eager for land invaded the Indian reservations ; acts of violence
were frequent, and shameful frauds were perpetrated by the agents of the
government. The Indians, in retaliation, killed settlers and ran off horses,
mules, and cattle. There were uprisings of the Sioux in Minnesota (1862) and
in Montana (1866) ; hut the worst offenders were the Apaches of Arizona,
and against tliem General Crook waged war in 1872. Toward the close of
1872 the Modocs left their reservation in Oregon, took refuge in the Lava Beds in

GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1860 TO 1880 401

the buffalo is as rare an animal in the West as in the East ; and
after many wars and treaties with the Indians, they now hold
less than one hundredth of the land west of the Mississippi.

Mechanical Progress. — The period 1860 to 1880 was one of
great mechanical and industrial progress. During this time
dynamite and the barbed-wire fence were introduced ; the com-
pressed-air rock drill, the typewriter, the Westinghouse air
brake, the Janney car coupler, the cable car, the trolley sys-
tems, the electric light,
the search light, electric
motors, the Bell tele-
phone, the phonograph,
the gas engine, and a
host of other inventions
and mechanical devices
were invented. To sat-
isfy the demands of
trade and commerce,
great works of engi-
neering were under-
taken, such as twenty
years before could not
have been attempted.
The jetties constructed
by James B. Eads in

Custer's fight.

the South Pass at the mouth of the Mississippi, to force that
river to keep open its own channel ; the steel-arch railroad
bridge built by Eads across the Mississippi at St. Louis; the
Roebling suspension bridges over the Ohio at Cincinnati and

northern California, and defied the troops sent to drive them back. General
Can by and several others were treacherously murdered at a conference (1873),
and a war of several months' duration followed before the Modocs were forced
to surrender. In 1874 the Cheyennes (she-enz'), enraged at the slaughter
of the buffaloes by the whites, made cattle raids, and more fighting ensued.
An attempt to remove the Sioux to a new reservation led to yet another war
in 1876, in which Lieutenant-Colonel Custer and his force of 262 men were mas-
sacred in Montana. Head Longfellow's poem The Bevenge of Bain-in-the-Face.

402

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

over the East River at New York; and the successful laying
of the Atlantic cable (1866) by Cyrus W. Field, are a few of
the great mechanical triumphs of this period.

Industrial Development. — Industries once carried on in the
household or in small factories were conducted on a large scale
by great corporations. The machine for making tin cans made
possible the canning industry. The self -binding harvester and
reaper made possible the immense grain fields of the West.
The production and refining of petroleum became an industry of

Steel miU.

great importance. The great flour mills of Minneapolis, the iron
and steel mills of Pennsylvania, the packing houses of Chicago
and Kansas City, and many other enterprises were the direct
result of the use of machinery.

Rise of Great Corporations. — Trades and occupations, indus-
tries of all sorts, began to concentrate and combine, and large
corporations took the place of individuals and small companies.
In place of many little railroads there were now trunk lines. ^

1 Thus (1869) the New York Central (from Albany to Buffalo) and the Hud-
son River (from New York to Albany) were combined and formed one railroad
under one management from New York to Buffalo.

GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1860 TO 1880 403

^^SettUd area in I860

|-.v..;..|Dols indicate regions settled
L.-..- 1 between 1860 and''OPn

Settled area in x88o.

In place of many little telegraph companies, express companies,
and oil companies there were now a few large ones.

Immigration. — This industrial development, in spite of
machinery, could not have been so great were it not for the in-
crease in popuLation,
wealth, the facilities
of transportation,
and the great num-
ber of workingmen.
These were largely
immigrants, who
came by hundreds of
thousands year after
year. From about
90,000 in 1862, the
number who came

each year rose to more than 450,000 in 1873 ; and then fell to
less than 150,000 in 1878. The population of the whole coun-
try in 1880 was 50,000,000, of whom more than 6,500,000 were
of foreign birth.

SUMMARY

1. The discovery of gold and silver near the Rocky Mountains in 1858
and later brought to that region many thousand miners.

2. Their presence in that wild region made local government necessary,
and by 1868 seven new territories were formed (Colorado, Dakota, Nevada,
Idaho, Arizona, Montana, Wyoming), and one of them (Nevada, 1864) was
admitted into the Union as a state.

3. Means of communication with California and the far West were im-
proved. First came the Pony Express, then the telegraph, and finally the
railroad.

4. The construction of the railroad across the middle of the country
was followed by the building of another near the northern border.

5. Railroad building, the Homestead Law, and the success of the Dakota
wheat farms, led to the rapid development of the new Northwest.

6. Quite as noticeable is the mechanical and industrial progress of the
country, the rise of great corporations, and the flood of immigrants that
came to our shores each year.

CHAPTER XXXIII

A QUARTER CENTURY OF STRUGGLE OVER INDUSTRIAL
QUESTIONS, 1872 TO 1897

The National Labor Party. — The changed industrial con-
ditions of the period 1860-80 affected politics, and after
1868 the questions which divided parties became more and
more industrial and financial. The rise of the national labor
party and its demands shows this very strongly. Ever since
1829 the workingman had been in politics in some of the
states, and had secured many reforms. But no national labor
congress was held till 1865, after which like congresses were
held each year till 1870, when a national convention was called
to form a "National Labor-Reform Party."

The demands of the party thus formed (1872) were for
taxation of government bonds (p. 387) ; repeal of the national
banking system (p. 382); an eight-hour working day ; exclusion
of the Chinese ; ^ and no land grants to corporations (p. 398).
At every presidential election since this time, nominations have
been made by one or more labor parties.

The Prohibition Party. — Another party which first nomi-
nated presidential candidates in 1872 was that of the Prohibi-

1 After the discovery of gold in California, Chinamen, called coolies, came to
that state in considerable numbers. But they attracted little attention till 1852,
when the governor complained that they were sent out by Chinese capitalists
under contract, that the gold they dug was sent to China, and that they worked
for wages so low that no American could compete with them. Attempts were
then made to stop their importation, especially by heavy taxes laid on them.
But the courts declared such taxation illegal, and appeals were then made to
Congress for relief. No action was taken ; but in 1868 an old treaty with China
was amended, and to import Cliinamen without their free consent was made a
penal offense. This did not prevent their coming, so the demand was made for
their exclusion by act of Congress.

404

INDUSTRIAL QUESTIONS, 1872 TO 1897 405

tionists. After much agitation of temperance reform,^ efforts
were made to prohibit the sale of liquor entirely, and between
1851 and 1855 eight states adopted prohibitory laws. Then
the movement subsided for a while, but in 1869 it began again
and in that year the National Prohibition Reform party was
founded. In 1872 its platform called for the suppression of
the sale of intoxicating liquor, and for a long series of other
reforms. Every four years since that time the Prohibition
party has named its candidates.

Grant Reelected. — In 1872 no great importance was attached
to either of these parties (the Labor and the Prohibition). The
contest lay between General Grant, the Republican candidate
for President, and Horace Greeley,^ the Liberal Republican
nominee (p. 390), who was supported also by most of the Dem-
ocrats. Grant was elected by a large majority.

The Panic of 1873. — Scarcely had Grant been reinaugurated
when a serious panic swept over the country. The period since
the war had been one of great prosperity, wild speculation,
and extraordinary industrial development. Since 1869 some
24,000 miles of railroad had been built. But in the midst of all
this prosperity, the city of Chicago was almost destroyed by fire
(1871),^ and the next year a large part of the city of Boston

1 In the early years of the nineteenth century liquor was a part of the
workiiigman's wages. Every laborer on the farm, in the harvest field, every
sailor, and men employed in many of the trades, as carpenters and masons,
demanded daily grog at the cost of the employer. About 1810 a temperance
movement put an end to much of this. But intemperance remained the curse
of the workingman down to the days of Van Buren and Tyler, when a greater
temperance movement began.

2 Horace Greeley was born in New Hampshire in 1811, and while still a lad
learned the trade of printer. When he went to New York in 1831, he was so
poor that he walked the streets in search of work. During the Harrison cam-
paign in 1840 he edited the Log Cabin, a Whig newspaper, and soon after the
election founded the New York Tribune. In 1848 he was elected a member
of Congress. He was one of the signers of the bond which released Jefferson
Davis from imprisonment after the Civil War. Greeley overexerted himself in
tiie campaign of 1872, and died a few weeks after the election.

8 The fire is said to have been started by a cow kicking over a lamp in a
small barn. Nearly 2200 acres were burned over, some 17,450 buildings con-
sumed, 200 lives were lost, and 08,000 people made homeless.

406 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

was burned. This led to a demand for money to rebuild them.
Many speculative enterprises failed. The railroads that were
being built ahead of population, in order to open up new lands,
could not sell their bonds, and when a banker who was backing
one of the railroads failed, the panic started. Thousands of
business men failed, and the wages of workingmen were cut
down.

The Specie Payment Act. — The cry was then raised for
more money, and (in 1874) Congress attempted to increase,
or "inflate," the amount of greenbacks in circulation from
1356,000,000 to $400,000,000. Grant vetoed the bill. What
shall be done with the currency ? then became the question of
the hour. Paper money was still circulating at less than its
face value as measured in coin. To make it worth face value.
Congress (1875) decided to resume specie payment ; that is, the
fractional currency was to be called in and redeemed in 10, 25,
and 50 cent silver pieces ; and after January 1, 1879, all green-
backs were to be redeemed in specie.

Political Parties in 1876.^ — This policy of resumption of
specie payment did not please everybody. A Greenback party
was formed, which called for the repeal of the Specie Payment
Act and for the issue of more greenbacks. That the presiden-
tial election would be close was certain, and this certainty did
much to lead the Democratic and Republican parties to take up
some of the demands of the Prohibition, Liberal Republica
and Labor parties. Thus both the Democratic and Republica
parties called for no more land grants to corporations, and for
the exclusion of the Chinese.

1 The close of the first century of our national independence was the occa-
sion of a great exposition in Philadelphia — the first of many that have been
held in our country on centennial anniversaries of great events in our history.
The Philadelphia exposition was first planned as a mammoth fair for the display
of the industries and arts of t.he United States ; but Congress having approved
the idea, all foreign nations were invited to take part, and thirty-three did so.
The main building covered some twenty acres and was devoted to the display of
manufactures. The exposition occupied also four other large buildings devoted
to machinery, agriculture, etc., of which Horticultural Hall and Memorial Hall
are still standing.

or ■

INDUSTRIAL QUESTIONS, 1872 TO 1897

407

Memorial Hall, Philadelphia.

The Election of 1876. — The Republican candidate for
President was Rutherford B. Hayes ; ^ the Democratic candi-
date was Samuel J. Tilden. The admission of Colorado in
August, 1876, made thirty-eight states, casting 369 electoral
votes. A candidate to be elected therefore needed at least 185
electoral votes. So close was the contest that the election of
Hayes was claimed by exactly 185 votes. This number in-
cluded the votes of South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, and
Oregon, in each of which a dispute was raging as to whether
Republican or Democratic electors were chosen. Both sets
claimed to have been elected, and both met and voted.

Electoral Commission. — The electoral votes of the states are
counted in the presence of the House and Senate. The ques-
tion then became. Which of these duplicate sets shall Congress
count ? To determine the question an electoral commission of
fifteen members was created. 2 It decided that the votes of the

1 Rutherford B. Hayes was born in Ohio in 1822, and after graduating from
Kenyon College and the Harvard Law School settled at Fremont, Ohio, but soon
moved to Cincinnati. At the opening of the war he joined the Union army and
by 1865 had risen to the rank of brevet major general. While still in the army,
he was elected to Congress, served two terms, and was then twice elected gov-

Iemor of Ohio. In 1875 he was elected for a third term. He died in 1893.
2 The commission consisted of five senators, five representatives, and five
justices of the Supreme Court ; eight were Republicans, and seven Democrats.
I

408 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Republican electors in the four states should be counted, and
Hayes was therefore declared elected. ^

End of Carpetbag Governments. — The inauguration of Hayes
was followed by the recall of United States troops from the
South, and the downfall of carpetbag governments in South
Carolina and Louisiana. During the first half of Hayes's term
the Democrats had control of the House of Representatives,
and during the second half, of the Senate as well. As a result,
proposed partisan measures either failed to pass Congress, or
were vetoed by the President.

The Year 1877 was one of great business depression. A
strike on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the summer of
1877 spread to other railroads and became almost an industrial
insurrection. Traffic was stopped, millions of dollars' worth of
freight cars, machine shops, and other property was destroyed,
and in the battles fought around Pittsburg many lives were
lost.2 Failures were numerous ; in 1878 more business men
failed than in the panic year 1873.

Silver Coinage. — For much of this business depression the
financial policy of the government was blamed, and when Con-
gress assembled in 1877, this policy was at once attacked. An
attempt to repeal the act for resuming specie payment (p. 408)
was made, but failed.^ Another measure, however, concerning
silver coinage, was more successful.

Congress had dropped (1873) the silver dollar from the list

1 By 185 electoral votes against 184 for Tilden. The popular vote at the
election of 1876 was (according to the Republican claim): for Hayes, 4,033,768 ;
for Tilden, 4,285,992 ; for Peter Cooper (Greenback-Labor or " Independent "),
81,737; for Green Clay Smith (Prohibition), 9522.

2 The strikers' grievances were reduction of wages, irregular employment,
irregular payment of wages, and forced patronage of company hotels. There
were riots at Baltimore, Chicago, Reading, and other places besides Pittsburg ;
state militia was called out to quell the disorder ; and at the request of the state
governors. United States troops were sent to Pennsylvania, Maryland, and
West Virginia.

8 Specie payment was accordingly begun on January 1, 1879, and then for
the first time since greenbacks were made legal tender they were accepted
everywhere at par with coin. By the provisions of other laws, the araonnt of
greenbacks kept in circulation was fixed at $346,681,000.

INDUSTRIAL QUESTIONS, 1872 TO 1897 409

of coins to be made at the mint.^ Soon afterward the silver
mines of Nevada began to yield astonishingly, and the price of
silver fell. This led to a demand (by inflationists and silver-
producers) that the silver dollar should again be coined ; and
in 1878 Congress passed (over Hayes's veto) the Bland- Allison
Act, which required the Secretary of the Treasury to buy not
less than 12,000,000 nor more than $4,000,000 worth of silver
bullion each month and coin it into dollars.^

** The Chinese must go." — Another act vetoed by Hayes was
intended to stop the coming of Chinese to our country. In 1877
an anti-Chinese movement was begun in San Francisco by the
workingmen led by Dennis Kearney. Open-air meetings were
held, and the demand for Chinese exclusion was urged so vig-
orously that Congress (1879) passed an act restricting Chinese
immigration. Hayes vetoed this as violating our treaty with
China, but (1880) negotiated a new treaty which provided that
Congress might regulate the immigration of Chinese laborers.

The Election of iSSo ; Death of Garfield. — In 1880 there
were again several parties, but the contest was between the
Republicans with James A. Garfield ^ and Chester A. Arthur
as candidates for President and Vice President, and the Demo-

1 The price of silver in 1872 was such that the 412^ gi-ains in the dollar
were worth $ 1.02 in gold money. The silver dollar was worth more as silver
bullion than as money, and was therefore little used as money. This dropping
of the silver dollar from the list of coins, or ceasing to coin it, was called the
"demonetization of silver."

2 To carry any number of these " cart-wheel dollars" in the pocket would
have been inconvenient, because of their size and weight. Provision was there-
fore made that the dollars might be deposited in the United States treasury
and paper "silver certificates " issued against them. Get specimens of different
kinds of paper money, read the words printed on a silver certificate, and com-
pare with the wording on a greenback (United States note) and on a national
bank note.

8 James A. Garfield was born in Ohio in 1831. While still a lad, he longed
to be a sailor, and failing in this, he became a canal boatman. After a little
experience as such he went back to school, supporting himself by working as a
carpenter and teaching school. In 1854 he entered the junior class of Williams
College, graduated in 1856, became a teacher in Hiram Institute, was elected
to the Ohio senate in 1859, and joined the Union army in 1861. In 1862 he
was elected to Congress, took his seat in December, 1863, and continued to be a
member of the House of Representatives till 1881.

410 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

crats with Winfield S. Hancock and William H. English as
leaders.

Garfield and Arthur were elected, and on March 4, 1881,
were duly inaugurated. Four months later, as the President
stood in a railway station in Washington, a disappointed office
seeker shot him in the back. After his death (September 19,
1881) Chester A. Arthur became President. ^

Important Laws, 1881-85. — All parties had called for anti-
Chinese legislation. The long-desired act was accordingly
passed by Congress, excluding the Chinese from our country
for a period of twenty years. Arthur vetoed it as contrary to
our treaty with China. An act "suspending" the immigration
of Chinese laborers for ten years was then passed and became
law; similar acts have been passed from time to time since
then.

The Republicans (and Prohibitionists) had demanded the
suppression of polygamy in Utah and the neighboring terri-
tories. Another law (the Edmunds Act, 1882) was therefore
enacted for this end.^

The murder of Garfield aroused a general demand for
civil service reform. The Pendleton Act (1883) was therefore
enacted to secure appointment to office on the ground of fitness,
not party service.^

1 Chester Alan Arthur was bom In Vermont in 1830, graduated from Union
College, became (1853) a lawyer in New York city, and was (1871-78) cus-
toms collector of the port of New York. In 1880 he attended the national
Republican convention as a delegate from New York, and was one of the 302
members of that convention who voted to the last for the renomination of Grant.
After Grant was defeated and Garfield nominated, Arthur was named for the
•vice presidency, in order to appease the "Stalwarts," as the friends of Grant
were called.

2 When this failed to accomplish its purpose, Congress (1887) enacted an-
other law providing heavy penalties for polygamy. The Mormon Church then
declared against the practice.

8 The murder of Garfield led also to a new presidential succession law. The
old law provided that if both the President and the Vice President should die,
the office should be filled temporarily by the president pro tern, of the Senate, or
if there were none, by the speaker of the House of Representatives. But one
Congress expired March 4, 1881, and the next one did not meet and elect its pre-
siding officers till December ; so if Arthur had died before then, there would

INDUSTRIAL QUESTIONS, 1872 TO 1897

411

The cruiser Boston.

The New Navy. — After the close of the Civil War our navy-
was suffered to fall into neglect and decay. The thirty-seven
cruisers, all but four of
which were of wood; the
fourteen single-turreted
monitors built during the
war ; the muzzle-loading
guns, belonged to a past
age. By 1881 this was
fully realized and the
foundation of a new and
splendid navy was begun
by the construction of
three unarmored cruisers
— the Atlanta^ Boston^
and Chicago. Once started, the new navy grew rapidly, and in
the course of twelve years forty-seven vessels were afloat or on
the stocks.^

New Reforms Demanded. — Meantime the wonderful de-
velopment of our country caused a demand for further re-
forms. The chief employers of labor were corporations and
capitalists, many of whom abused the power their wealth gave
them. They were accused of importing laborers under contract
and thereby keeping wages down, of getting special privileges
from legislatures, and of combining to fix prices to suit them-
selves. In the campaign of 1884, therefore, these issues

have been no one to act as President. A new law passed in 1886 provides that if
both the presidency and the vice presidency become vacant, the presidency shall
pass to the Secretary of State, or, if there be none, to the Secretary of the Trea-"
sury, or, if necessary, to the Secretary of War, Attorney General, Postmaster
General, Secretary of the Navy, or Secretary of the Interior.

1 In 1881, Lieutenant A. W. Greely was sent to plant a station in the Arctic
regions. Supplies sent in 1882 and 1883 failed to reach him, and alarm was felt
for the safety of his party. In 1884 a rescue expedition was sent out under Com-
mander W. S. Schley. Three vessels were made ready by the Navy Department,
and a fourth by Great Britain. After a long search Greely and six companions
were found on the point of starvation and five were brought safely home. Dur-
ing their stay in the Arctic, they had reached a point within 430 miles of the
north pole, the farthest north any white man had then gone.

412

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

came to the front, and demands were made for (1) legislation
against the importation of contract labor, (2) regulation of in-
terstate commerce, especially
as carried on by railways,

(3) government ownership
of telegraphs and railways,

(4) reduction of the hours of
labor, (5) bureaus to collect
and spread information as to
labor.

The Election of 1884.—
The Republicans nominated
James G. Blaine for Presi-
dent ; the Democrats, Grover
Cleveland. 1 The nomination
of Blaine gave offense to
many Republicans ; they took
the name of Independents
and supported Cleveland,
who was elected.
Important Laws, 1885 -89. ^ — As the two great parties,
Democratic and Republican, had each favored the passage of

^ Grover Cleveland was born in New Jersey in 1837. In 1841 his father, a
Presbyterian minister, removed to Onondaga County, New York, where Grover
attended school and served as clerk in the village store. Later he taught for a
year in the Institute for the Blind in New York city ; but soon began the study
of law, and settled in Buffalo. He was assistant district attorney of Erie County,
sheriff, and mayor of Buffalo, and in 1882, as the Democratic candidate for gov-
ernor of New York, carried the state by 192,000 plurality. Both as mayor and
as governor he was noted for his free use of the veto power. He died in 1908.

2 In 1885 the Bartholdi statue of Liberty Enlightening the World was
formally received at New York. It was a gift from the people of France to the
people of America. A hundred thousand Frenchmen contributed the money for
the statue, and the pedestal was built with money raised in the United States.
An island in New York harbor was chosen for the site, and there the statue was
unveiled in October, 1886. The top of Liberty's torch is 305 feet above low water.

In September, 1886, a severe earthquake occurred near Charleston, South
Carolina, the vibrations of which were felt as far away as Cape Cod and Mil-
waukee. In Charleston most of the houses were made unfit for habitation,
many persons were killed, and some $ 8,000,000 worth of property was destroyed.

Grover Cleveland.

INDUSTRIAL QUESTIONS, 1872 TO 1897

413

certain laws demanded by the labor parties, these reforms were
now obtained.

1. An Anti-Contract-Labor Law (1885) forbade any person,
company, or corporation to bring aliens into the United States
under contract to perform labor or service.

2. An Interstate Commerce Act (1887) provided for a com-
mission whose duty it is to see that all charges for the carriage
of passengers or freight are reasonable and just, and that no
unfair special rates are made
for favored shippers.

3. A Bureau of Labor
was established and put in
charge of a commissioner
whose duty it is to " diffuse
among the people of the
United States useful infor-
mation on subjects connected
with labor." Such bureaus
or departments already ex-
isted in many of the states.

The Surplus. — These
old issues disposed of, the
continued growth and pros-
perity of our country
brought up new ones. For
some time past the revenue

The statue of Liberty.

of the government had so exceeded its expenses that on De-
cember 1, 1887, there was a surplus of $50,000,000 in the
treasury. Six months later this had risen to 8103,000,000.

Three plans were suggested for disposing of the surplus.
Some thought it should be distributed among the states as in
1837. Some were for buying government bonds and so redu-
cing the national debt. Others urged a reduction of the annual
revenue by cutting down the tariff rates. The President in his
message in 1887 asked for such a reduction, and in 1888 the
House passed a new tariff bill which the Senate rejected.

414 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The Campaign of 1888. — In the campaign of 1888, therefore,
the tariff issue came to the front. The Democrats renominated
Grover Cleveland for President, and called for a tariff for
revenue only, and for no more revenue than was needed to pay
the cost of economical government. The Republicans nomi-
nated Benjamin Harrison ^ on a platform favoring a protective
tariff, and elected him.

New States. — Both the great parties had called for the
admission of new states. Just before the end of Cleveland's
term, therefore, an enabling act was passed for North and South
Dakota, Washington, and Montana, which were accordingly
admitted to the Union a few months later (1889). Idaho and
Wyoming were admitted the following year (1890), and Utah
in 1896.

New Laws of 1890. — The administration of affairs having
again passed to the Republican party, it enacted the McKinley
Tariff Law, which slightly raised the average rate of duties ;
the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, forbidding combinations to re-
strain trade; and a new financial measure which also bore the
name of Senator Sherman. The law (p. 409) requiring the
purchase and coinage of at least $2,000,000 worth of silver
bullion each month did not satisfy the silver men. They
wanted a free-coinage law, giving any man the privilege of
having his silver coined into dollars (p. 224). As they had a
majority of the Senate, they passed a free-coinage bill, but the
House rejected it. A conference followed, and the so-called
Sherman Act was passed, increasing the amount of silver to be
bought each month by the government.^

1 Benjamin Harrison, the grandson of President William Henry Harrison,
was born at North Bend, Ohio, in 1833. He was educated at Miami Uni-
versity, studied law, settled at Indianapolis, and when the war opened, was re-
porter to the supreme court of Indiana. Joining the volunteers as a lieutenant,
he was brevetted brigadier general before the war ended. In 1881 he became
a senator from Indiana. He died in 1901. _

2 This required the Secretary of the Treasury to buy each month 4,500,000 I
ounces of silver, pay for it with treasury notes, and redeem the notes on demand I
in coin. After July 1, 1891, the silver so purchased need not be coined, but
might be stored and silver certificates issued against it.

INDUSTRIAL QUESTIONS, 1872 TO 1897 415

The Congressional Election of 1890. — The effect of the in-
creased tariff rates, the Sherman Act, and large expenditures
by Congress was at once apparent, and in the congressional
election of 1890 the Republicans were beaten. The Democratic
minority in the House of Representatives was turned into a
great majority, and in both House and Senate appeared mem-
bers of a new party called the Farmers' Alliance. ^

Presidential Campaign of 1892. — The success of the Alliance
men in the election of 1890, and the conviction that neither the
Democrats nor the Republicans would further all their de-
mands, led to a meeting of Alliance and Labor leaders in May,
1891, and the formation of " the People's Party of the United
States of America." In 1892 this People's Party, or the
Populists, as they were called, nominated James B. Weaver for
President, cast a million votes, and secured the election of
four senators and eleven representatives in Congress. The
Republicans renominated Harrison for President. But the
Democrats secured majorities in the House and the Senate, and
elected Cleveland. ^

The Panic of 1893. — When Cleveland's second inauguration
took place, March 4, 1893, our country had already entered a
period of panic and business depression. Trade had fallen off.
Money was hard to borrow. Foreigners who held our stocks
and bonds sought to sell them, and a great amount of gold was
drawn to Europe. So bad did business conditions become that
the President called Congress to meet in special session in
August to remedy matters.

The silver dollars coined by the government were issued
and accepted by the government at their face value, and circu-

1 Soon after the war the farmers in the great agricultural states had formed
associations under such names as the Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, Patrons of
Industry, Agricultural Wheel, Farmers' Alliance, and others. About 1886 they
began to unite, and formed the National Agricultural Wheel and the Farmers'
Alliance and Cooperative Union. In 1889 these and others were united in a
convention at St. Louis into the Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union.

2 The electoral vote was : for Cleveland, 277 ; Harrison, 145 ; Weaver, 22.
The popular vote was : Democratic, 6,556,543 ; Kepublican, 6,175,582 ; Popu-
list, 1,040,886 ; Prohibition, 256,841 ; Socialist Labor, 21,632.

McM. BRIEF 25

416 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

lated on a par with gold, although the price of silver bullion
had fallen so low that the metal in a silver dollar was worth
less than seventy cents. Many people believed the business
panic was due to fears that the government could not much
longer keep the increasing volume of silver currency at par
with gold. Therefore Congress repealed part of the Sherman
Act of 1890, so as to stop the purchase of more silver.
' The Wilson Tariff. — The business revival which the ma-
jority of Congress now expected, did not come. Failures con-
tinued ; mills remained closed, gold continued to leave the
country, and government receipts were $34,000,000 less than
expenditures when the year ended. By the close of the autumn
of 1893, hundreds of thousands of people were out of employ-
ment and many in want. In this condition of affairs Congress
met in regular session (December, 1893). The Democrats were
in control of both branches, and were pledged to revise the
tariff. A bill was therefore passed, cutting down some of the
tariff rates (the Wilson Act).i

Nobody expected that the revised tariff would yield enough
money to meet the expenses of the government. One section
of the law therefore provided that all yearly incomes above
$4000 should be taxed two per cent. Though Congress had
levied an income tax thirty years before, its right to do so was
now denied by many, and the Supreme Court decided (1895)
that the income tax was unconstitutional .^

Australian Ballot. — One great reform which must not go
unnoticed was the introduction of the Australian or secret bal-

1 Cleveland objected to certain features- of the bill, and refused to sign it ;
but he did not veto it. By tlie Constitution, if the President neither signs a bill
nor returns it with his veto within ten days (Sunday excepted) after he
receives it, the bill becomes a law without his signature, provided Congress
has not meanwhile adjourned. If Congress adjourns before the ten-day limit ex-
pires and the President does not sign, then the bill does not become a law, but
is "pocket vetoed."

2 Because Congress had made the tax uniform — the same on incomes of
the same amount everywhere — instead of fixing the total amount to be raised
and dividing it among the states according to population, as required by the
Constitution in the case of direct taxes.

INDUSTRIAL QUESTIONS, 1872 TO 1897 417

lot. The purpose of this system of voting, first used in Aus-
tralia, is to enable the voter to prepare his ballot in a booth
by himself and deposit it without any one knowing for whom he
votes. The system was first used in our country in Massachu-
setts and in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1888. So successful was it
that ten states adopted it the next year, and by 1894 it was in
use in all but seven of the forty-four states.

Negroes Disfranchised. — Six of the seven were Southern
states where negroes were numerous. After the fall of the
carpetbag governments illegal means were often used to keep
negroes from the polls and prevent " negro domination " in
these states. Later legal methods were tried instead: the pay-
ment of taxes, and sometimes such an educational qualifica-
tion as the ability to read, were required of voters; but the
laws were so framed as to exclude many negroes and few
whites. Mississippi was the first state to amend her con-
stitution for this purpose (1890), and nearly all the Southern
states have followed her example.^

The Free Coinage Issue. — Now that the treasury had
ceased to buy silver, the demand for the free coinage of silver
was renewed. The Republicans in their national platform in
1896 declared against it, whereupon thirty-four delegates from
the silver states (Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Colorado,
Utah, and Nevada) left the convention. The Democratic
party declared for free coinage,^ but many Democrats ( " gold
Democrats") thereupon formed a new party, called the
National Democratic, and nominated candidates on a gold-
standard platform. Both the great parties were thus split on
the issue of free coinage of silver.

1 The franchise has been slightly narrowed in some Northern states by edu-
cational qualifications ; but, on the other hand, in a number of the states it
has been broadened by extending it to women on the same terms as men. The
spread of woman suffrage in the United States is discussed in a later chapter
(page 438).

2 The Democratic platform demanded " the free and unlimited coinage of both
silver and gold at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1 "; that is, that out of one
pound of gold should be coined as many dollars as out of sixteen pounds of
silver.

418 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The Campaign of 1896. — The Republican party nominated
William McKinley^ for President. The Democrats named
William J. Bryan, and he was indorsed by the People's party
and the National Silver party.^ The campaign was most ex-
citing. The country was flooded with books, pamphlets, hand-
bills, setting forth both sides of the silver issue ; Bryan and
McKinley addressed immense crowds, and on election day
13,900,000 votes were cast. McKinley was elected.

The Dingley Tariff. — The excitement over silver was such
that in the campaign the tariff question was little considered.
But the Republicans were pledged to a revision of the tariff,
and accordingly (July, 1897) the Dingley Bill passed Congress
and was approved by the President. Thus in the course of
seven years the change of administration from one party to
the other had led to the passage of three tariff acts — the
McKinley (1890), the Wilson (1894), and the Dingley (1897).

Foreign Complications. — It is now time to review our for-
eign relations during this period. Twice since 1890 they had
brought us apparently to the verge of war.

The Chilean Incident. — In 1891, while the United States
ship Baltimore was in the port of Valparaiso, Chile, some sailors
went on shore, were attacked on the streets, and one was killed
and several wounded. Chile offered no apology and no repara-
tion to the injured, but instead sent an offensive note about the
matter. Harrison, in a message to Congress (1892), plainly
suggested war. But the offensive note was withdrawn, a
proper apology was made, and the incident ended.

1 William McKinley was born in Ohio in 1843, attended Allegheny College
for a short time, then taught a district school, and was a clerk in a country post
office. When the Civil War opened, he joined the army as a private in a regi-
ment in which Hayes was afterwards colonel, served through the war, and was
brevetted major for gallantry at Cedar ('reek and Fishers Hill. The war over,
he became a lawyer, entered politics in Ohio, and was elected a member of seven
Congresses. From 1892 to 1896 he was governor of Ohio.

=2 The Gold ]:)emocrats nominated John M. Palmer ; and the Prohibitionists,
the National party, and the Socialist Labor party also named candidates. But
none of these parties cast so many as 150,000 popular votes or secured any
electoral votes.

INDUSTRIAL QUESTIONS, 1872 TO 1897

419

The Seal Fisheries. — Great Britain and our country were
long at variance over the question of ownership of seals in Bering
Sea. Our purpose was to protect them from extermination by
certain restrictions on seal fishing. To settle our rights in
the matter, a court of arbitration was appointed and met in
Paris in 1893. The decision was against us, but steps were
taken to protect the seals from extermination.^

Hawaiian boats with outriggers.

I Hawaii. — Just before Harrison retired from office a revolu-
tion in the Hawaiian Islands drove the queen from the throne.
A provisional government was then established, commissioners
were dispatched to Washington, and a treaty for the annexa-

1 We contended that we had jurisdiction in Bering Sea ; that the seals rear-
ing their young on our islands in that sea were our property ; that even though
they temporarily went far out into the Pacific Ocean they were under our
protection. Oar revenue cutters had therefore seized Canadian vessels taking
8ea1» in the open sea.

420 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT"

tion of Hawaii to the United States was drawn up and sent to
the Senate. President Cleveland recalled the treaty and sought
to have the queen restored. But the Hawaiians in control
resisted and in 1894 established a republic.

Venezuela. — For many years there was a dispute over the
boundary line between British Guiana and Venezuela, and in 1895
it seemed likely to involve Venezuela in a war with Great Britain.
Our government had tried to bring about a settlement by
arbitration. Great Britain refused to arbitrate, and denied our
right to interfere. President Cleveland insisted that under the
Monroe Doctrine we had a right, iand in December, 1895, asked
Congress to authorize a commission to investigate the claims of
Great Britain. This was done, and great excitement at once
arose at home and in Great Britain. But Great Britain and
Venezuela soon submitted the question to arbitration.

SUMMARY

1. The wonderful industrial growth of our country between 1860 and
1880 brought up for settlement grave industrial and financial questions.

2. The failure of the two great parties to take up these questions at
once, caused the formation of many new parties, such as the National Labor,
the Prohibition, the Liberal Republican, and the People's party.

3. Some of their demands were enacted into laws, as the silver coinage
act, the exclusion of the Chinese, the anti-contract-labor and interstate
commerce acts, the establishment of a national labor bureau, and the anti-
trust act.

4. In 1890-97 the tariff was three times revised by the McKinley, Wil-
son, and Dingley acts.

5. In the political world the most notable events were the contested
election of 1876-77 ; the recall of United States troops from the South, and
the fall of carpetbag governments; the assassination of Garfield; and the
two defeats of the national Republican ticket (1884 and 1892).

6. In the financial world the chief events were the panics of 1873 and
1893, the resumption of specie payment (1879), and the free-silver issue.

7. In the world at large we had trouble with Chile, Hawaii, and Great
Britain.

CHAPTER XXXIV

THE WAR WITH SPAIN, AND LATER EVENTS

The Cuban Rebellion. — In February, 1895, the Cubans, for
the sixth time in fifty years, rose in rebellion against Spain,
and attempted to form a republic. These proceedings con-
cerned us for several reasons. American trade with Cuba was
interrupted ; Ameri-

Cuba and Porto Rico.

can money invested
in Cuban mines, rail-
roads, and planta-
tions might be lost;
our ports were used
by the Cubans in fit-
ting out military ex-
peditions which our
government was forced to stop at great expense ; the cruelty
with which the war was waged aroused indignation. During
the summer of 1897 the suffering of Cuban non-combatants was
so great that our people began to send them food and medical aid.
Destruction of the Maine. — While our people were engaged
in this humane work, our battleship Maine, riding at anchor in the
harbor of Havana, was blown up (February 15, 1898) and two
hundred and sixty of her sailors killed. War was now inevi-
table, and on April 19 Congress adopted a resolution demand-
ing that Spain should withdraw from Cuba, and authorizing the
President to compel her to leave if necessary. ^ Spain at once
severed diplomatic relations, and (April 21, 1898) war began.

1 At the same time it was resolved, " That the United States hereby disclaims
any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over
said island, except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its determination,
when that is accomplished, to leave the government and control of the island to
Us people.'*

421

422

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

NEGRO^JV
U L U ^^ ^.

DANAO\
E A ■ ^~

The Battle of Manila Bay. — A fleet which had assembled
at Key West sailed at once to blockade Havana and other ports
on the coast of Cuba. Another under Commodore Dewey
sailed from Hongkong to attack the Spanish fleet in the Phil-
ippine Islands. Dewey found it in Manila Bay, where on
the morning of May 1, 1898, he attacked and destroyed it with-
out losing a man or a ship. The city of Manila was theii

blockaded, and General Merritt
with twenty thousand men was
sent across the Pacific to take pos-
session of the Philippines.

Blockade of Cervera's Fleet. —
Meantime a second Spanish fleet,
under Admiral Cervera (thair-
va'ra), sailed from the Cape Verde
Islands. Acting Rear - Admiral
Sampson, with ships which had been
blockading Havana, and Commo-
dore Schley, with a " flying squad-
ron," went in search of Cervera,
who, after a long hunt, was found
in the harbor of Santiago on the
south coast of Cuba, and at once
blockaded. 1

The Merrimac. — The entrance to Santiago harbor is long,
narrow, and defended by strong forts. In an attempt to make
the blockade more certain. Lieutenant Hobson and a volunteer
crew of seven men took the collier (coal ship) Merrimac well
into the harbor entrance and sank her in the channel (June 3).^

1 When the Maine was destroyed, the battleship Oregon, then on the Pacific
coast, was ordered to the Atlantic seaboard. Making her way southward through
the Pacific, she passed the Strait of Magellan, steamed up the east coast of
South America, and after the swiftest long voyage ever made by a battleship,
took her place in the blockading fleet.

2 The storm of shot and shell from the forts carried away some of the Merri-
mac's steering gear, so that Hobson was unable to sink the vessel at the spot
intended. The channel was still navigable. Read the article by Lieutenant
Hobson in the Century Magazine for December, 1898 to March, 1fiO<)

} ^r3 LANDS

CELEBES SEA

The Philippines.

THE WAR WITH SPAIN

423

A field gun near Santiago.

The little band were made prisoners of war and in time were
exchanged.

Battles near Santiago. — As the fleet of Cervera could not be
attacked by water, it was decided to capture Santiago and so
force him to run out. Gen-
eral Shafter with an army
was therefore sent to Cuba,
and landed a few miles from
the city (June 22, 23), and
at once pushed forward.
On July 1 the Spanish posi-
tions on two hills, El Caney
(el ca-na') and San Juan
(sahn hoo-ahn'), were car-
ried by storm. ^

The capture of Santiago
was now so certain that, on July 3, Cervera's fleet dashed from
the harbor and attempted to break through the blockading
fleet. A running sea fight followed, and in a few hours all six
of the Spanish vessels were shattered wrecks on the coast of
Cuba. Not one of our ships was seriously damaged.

Two weeks later General Toral (to-rahl') surrendered the
city of Santiago, the eastern end of Cuba, and a large army.

Porto Rico. — General Miles now set off with an army to
capture Porto Rico. He landed on the south coast (August 1)
near Ponce (pon'tha), and was pushing across the island when
hostilities came to an end.

Peace. — Meanwhile, the French minister in Washington
asked, on behalf of Spain, on what terms peace would be made.
President McKinley stated them, and on August 12 an agree-
ment, or protocol, was signed. This provided (1) that hostili-
ties should cease at once, (2) that Spain should withdraw
from Cuba and cede Porto Rico and an island in the Ladrones

1 Among those who distinguished themselves in this campaign were (Jeneral
Joseph Wheeler, an ex-Confederate cavalry leader ; and Lieutenant-Colonel
Theodore Koosevelt, with his regiment of volunteers called '' Hough Biders.^*

424 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

to the United States, and (3) that the city and harbor of Manila
should be held by us till a treaty of peace was signed and the
fate of the Philippines settled. ^

The treaty was signed at Paris, December 10, 1898, and
went into force upon its ratification four months later. Spain
agreed to withdraw from Cuba, and to cede us Porto Rico,
Guam (one of the Ladrone Islands), and the Philippines. Our
government agreed to pay Spain 120,000,000.

Hawaii, meanwhile, had steadily been seeking annexation
to the United States. Many causes prevented it ; but during
the war with Spain the possibility of our holding the Philip-
pines gave importance to the Hawaiian Islands, and in July,
1898, they were annexed. In 1900 they were formed into
the territory of Hawaii. About the same time several other
small Pacific islands were acquired by our country. ^

Porto Rico and Cuba. — For Porto Rico, Congress provided
a system of civil government which went into effect May 1,
1900, and made the island a dependency, or colony — a district
governed according to special laws of Congress, but not form-
ing part of our count ry.^

When Spain withdrew from Cuba, .our government took
control, and after introducing many sanitary reforms, turned
the cities over to the Cubans. The people then elected
delegates to a convention which formed a constitution, and

1 The city of Manila was captured through a combined attack by Dewey's
fleet and Merritt's army, August 13, before news of the protocol had been
received.

2 Our flag was raised over Wake Island early in 1899. Part of the Samoa
group, including Tutuila (too-too-e'la) and sniall adjacent islands, was acquired
in 1900 by a joint treaty with Great Britain and Germany; these islands are 77
square miles in area and have 6000 population. Many tiny islands in the Pacific,
most of them rocks or coral reefs, belong to us ; but they are of little impor-
tance, except the Midway Islands, which are occupied by a party of telegraphers
in charge of a relay in the cable joining our continent with the Phihppines.

3 Porto Rico is a little smaller than Connecticut, but has a population of
about one million, of whom a third are colored. The government of 1900 con-
sisted of a governor, an executive council of 11 members appointed by the
President, and a House of Delegates of 35 members elected by the people. The
island is represented at Washington by a resident commissioner.

425

426 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

when this had been adopted and a president elected, our troops
were withdrawn, and (May 20, 1902) the Cubans began to
govern their island.

War in the Philippines. — When our forces entered Manila
(August, 1898), native troops under Aguinaldo(ahg-ee-nahl'do),
who had revolted against Spanish rule, held Luzon ^ and most
of the other islands. Aguinaldo now demanded that we should

A Philippine market.

turn the islands over to his party, and when this was refused,
attacked our forces in Manila. War followed ; but in battle
after battle the native troops were beaten and scattered, and in

1 The Philippine group numbers about two thousand islands. The land area
^ is about equal to that of New England and New York ; that is, 115,000 square
miles. Luzon, the largest, is about the size of Kentucky. A census taken in
1903 gave a population of 7,600,000, of whom 600,000 were savages. For several
years the Philippines were governed by the President, first through the army,
and then through an appointed commission headed by William H. Taft. But
Congress in 1902 provided for a new plan of government, including a governor
and a legislature of two branches, one the Philippine commission of eight mem-
bers, and the other an assembly chosen by the Filipinos. The Philippines are
represented at Washington by two resident commissioners.

RECENT EVENTS

427

time Aguinaldo was captured. The group of islands is now
governed as a dependency.

Wax in China. — The next country with which we had
trouble was China. Early in 1900 members of a Chinese soci-
ety called the Boxers began to kill Christian natives, mission-
aries, and other foreigners. The disorder soon reached Peking,
where foreign ministers, many Europeans, and Americans were
besieged in the part of the city where they were allowed to
reside. Ships and troops were at once sent to join the forces of
Japan and the powers of Europe in rescuing the foreigners in
Peking. War was not declared ; but some battles were fought
and some towns cap-
tured before Peking
was taken and China
brought to reason.^

The Census of
1900. — At home in
1900 our population
was counted for the
twelfth time in our
history and found to
be 76,000,000. This ^^^^ "®* ^ ^9oo.

census did not include the population of Porto Rico, Guam,
or the Philippines. In New York the population exceeded
that of the whol^ United States in 1810 ; in Pennsylvania it
was greater than that of the whole United States in 1800,
and Ohio and Illinois each had more people than the whole
country in 1790.

1 In 1898 the emperor of Russia invited many of the nations of the world to
meet and discuss the reduction of their armies and navies. Delegates from twenty-
six nations accordingly met at the Hague (in Holland) in May, 1899, and there
discussed (1) disarmament, (2) revision of the laws of land and naval war, (3)
mediation and arbitration. Three covenants or agreements were made and left
open for signature by the nations till 1900. One forbade the use in war of deadly
gases, of projectiles dropped from balloons, and of bullets made to expand in the
human body. The second revised the laws of war, and the third provided for
a permanent court of arbitration at the Hague, before which cases may be
brought with the consent of the nations concerned.

^^ Settled area in

|-.-......|Dots indicate regions seWed

t^i^^between 1880 and 1900

428 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Immigration. — In 1879 (p. 403) a great wave of immi-
gration began and rose rapidly till nearly 800,000 foreigners
came in one year, in 1882. Then the wave declined, but for
the rest of the century every year brought several hundred
thousand. In 1900 another great wave was rising, and by
1905 more than 1,000,000 immigrants were coming every year.
For some years these immigrants have come mostly from south-
ern and eastern Europe.

Growth of Cities. — Most remarkable has been the rapid
growth of our cities. In 1790 there were but 6 cities of over
8000 inhabitants each in the United States, and their total
population was but 131,000. In 1900 there were 545 such cities,
and their inhabitants numbered 25,000,000 — about a third of
the entire population; 38 of tliese cities had each more than
100,000 inhabitants. By 1906 our largest city. New York, had
more than 4,000,000 people, Chicago had passed the 2,000,000
mark, and Philadelphia had about 1,500,000.

The New South. — The census of 1900 brought out other
facts of great interest. For many years after 1860 the South
had gone backward rather than forward. From 1880 to 1900
her progress was wonderful. In 1880 she was loaded with
debt, her manufactures of little importance, her railways di-
lapidated, her banks few in number, and her laboring population
largely unemployed. In 1900 her cotton mills rivaled those
of New England. Since 1880 her cotton crop has doubled,
her natural resources have begun to be developed, and coal,
iron, lumber, cottonseed oil, and (in Texas and Louisiana)
petroleum have become important products. Alabama ranks
liigh in the list of coal-producing states, and her city of Bir-
mingham has become a great center of the iron and steel
industry. Atlanta and many other Southern cities are now
important manufacturing centers.

With material prosperity came ability to improve the sys-
tems of public schools. Throughout the South separate schools
are maintained for white and for negro children: and great
progress has been made in both.

RECENT EVENTS

429

The Election of 1900. — One of the signs of great prosperity
in our country has always been the number of political parties.
In the campaign for the election of President and Vice Presi-
dent in 1900 there were eleven parties, large and small. But
the contest really was be-
tween the Republicans, who
nominated William Mc-
Kinley and Theodore Roose-
velt, and the Democrats,
who nominated William J.
Bryan and Adlai E. Steven-
son, indorsed by the Popu-
list and Silver parties.

McKinley Assassinated.
— i\IcKinley and Roosevelt
were elected, and duly in-
augurated March 4, 1901.
In that year a great Pan-
American Exposition was
held at Buffalo, and while
attending it in September,
McKinley was shot by an
anarchist who, during a pub-
lic reception, approached
him as if to shake hands. Early on the morning of Septem-
ber 14 the President died, and Vice-President Roosevelt ^ suc-
ceeded to the presidency.

1 Theodore Roosevelt was bom in New York in 1858, graduated from Har-
vard University in 1880, and from 1882 to 1884 was a member of the legislature
of New York. In 1886 he was the candidate of the Republican party for mayor
of New York city and was defeated. In 1889 he was appointed a member of
the United States Civil Service Commission, but resigned in 1895 to become
president of the New York city police board. In 1897 he was appointed As-
sistant Secretary of the Navy, but when the war with Spain opened, resigned
and organized the First United States Cavalry Volunteers, popularly known
as Roosevelt's Rough Riders. Of this regiment he was lieutenant colonel
and then colonel, and after it was mustered out of service, was elected gov-
ernor of New York in the autumn of 1898. He is the author of many books on
history, biography, and hunting, besides essays and magazine articles.

Copyiviht, 190i, by I'ach Bros., N.Y.

Theodore Roosevelt.

430 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The Chinese. — In President Roosevelt's first message to
Congress (December, 1901) lie dealt with many current issues.
One of his requests was foT further legislation concerning
Chinese laborers. The Chinese Exclusion Act accordingly was
(1902) applied to our island possessions, and no Chinese laborer
is now allowed to enter one of them, nor may those already
there go from one group to another, or come to any of our
states.

Irrigation. — Another matter urged on the attention of
Congress by the President was the irrigation i of arid public
lands in the West in order that they might be made fit for
settlement. Great reservoirs for the storage of water should
be built, and canals to lead the water to the arid lands should
be constructed at government expense, the land so reclaimed
should be kept for actual settlers, and the cost repaid by the
sale of the land. Congress in 1902 approved the plan, and by
law set aside the money derived from the sale of public land in
thirteen states and three territories as a fund for building irri-
gation works. The work of reclamation was begun the next
year, and by 1907 eight new towns with some 10,000 people
existed on lands thus watered.

Isthmian Canal Routes. — The project of a canal across the
isthmus connecting North and South America, was more than
seventy-five years old. But no serious attempt was made to
cut a water way till a French company was organized in 1878,
spent $260,000,000 in ten years, and then failed. Another
French company then took up the work, and in turn laid it
down for want of funds. So the matter stood when the war with
Spain brought home to us the great importance of an isthmian
canal. Then the question arose. Which was the better of two
routes, that by Lake Nicaragua, or that across the isthmus of
Panama? 2 Congress (1899) sent a commission to consider

1 Before this time many small areas had been irrigated by means of works
constructed by individuals, by companies, and by local governments,

2 In 1825 Central America invited us to build a canal by way of Lake Nica-
ragua, and from that time forth the question was often before Congress. In
Jackson's time a commissioner was sent to examine the Nicaragua route and

RECENT EVENTS

431

this, and it reported that both routes were feasible. Thereupon
the French company offered to sell its rights and the unfinished
canal for $40,000,000, and Congress (1902) authorized the Presi-
dent to buy the rights and property of the French company,
and finish the Panama Canal; or, if Colombia would not grant us
control of the necessary
strip of land, to build one
by the Nicaragua route.

The Panama Canal
Treaty. — In the spring
of 1903, accordingly, a
treaty was negotiated
with Colombia for the
construction of the Pan-
ama Canal. Our Senate
ratified, but Colombia re-
jected, the treaty, where-
upon the province of
Panama (November,
1903) seceded from Co-
lombia and became an
independent republic.

Our government' promptly recognized the new republic,
and a treaty with it was ratified (February, 1904) by which we

that across the isthmus of Panama. After Texas was annexed we made a treaty
with New Granada (now Colombia), and secured "the right of way or transit
across the isthmus of Panama upon any modes of communication that now exist,
or that may be hereafter constructed." After the Mexican war, the discovery
of gold in California, and the expansion of our territory on the Pacific coast, the
importance of a canal was greatly increased. But Great Britain stepped in and
practically seized control of the Nicaragua route. A crisis followed, and in 1850
we made with Great Britain the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, by which each party
was pledged never to obtain " exclusive control over the said ship canal." When
(in 1900) we practically decided to build by the Nicaragua route, and felt we
must have exclusive control, it became necessary to abrogate this part of the
Clayton-Bulwer treaty. The Hay-Pauncefote treaty was therefore made, by
which Great Britain gave up all claim to a share in the control of such a canal,
and the United States guaranteed that any isthmian canal built by us should be.
open to all nations on equal terms.

432 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

secured the right to dig the canal. The property of the French
company was then purchased, and a commission appointed to
superintend the work of construction. ^ After, some changes,
Colonel George W. Goethals was made chief engineer, and the
canal was completed in 1914.

The Alaskan Boundary. — By our treaty of purchase of
Alaska, its boundaries depended on an old treaty between Russia
and Great Britain. When gold was discovered in Canada in
1871, a dispute arose over the boundary, and it became serious
when gold was discovered in the Klondike region in 1896.
Our claim placed the boundary of southeastern Alaska thirty-
five miles inland and parallel to the coast. Canada put it so
much farther west as to give her several important ports. The
matter was finally submitted to arbitration, and in 1903 the
decision divided the land in dispute, but gave us all the ports. ^

Presidential Election of 1904. — The campaign of 1904 was
opened by the nomination by the Republican party of Theodore
Roosevelt and Charles W. Fairbanks. The Democrats presented
Alton B. Parker and Henry G. Davis, and in the course of
the summer seven other parties — the People's, the Socialist,
the Socialist Labor, the Prohibition, the United Christian, the
National Liberty, and the Continental — nominated candi-
dates. Roosevelt and Fairbanks were elected. ^

Oklahoma. — Among the demands of the Democratic party
in 1904 was that for the admission of Oklahoma and Indian

1 In accordance with our rights under the treaty, Congress (April, 1904)
authorized the President, as soon as he liad acquired the property of the canal
company and paid Panama $10,000,000, to take possession of the "Canal
Zone,'' a strip ten miles wide (five miles on each side of the canal) stretching
across the isthmus and extending three marine miles from low water out into
the ocean at each end. On April 22, IQO-i, the property of the canal com-
pany was transferred at Paris, and on May 9 the company was paid $40,000,000.

2 Another event of 1903 was the addition of a ninth member to the Cabinet, —
the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. The Secretary of Agriculture (1889) was
the eighth member.

8 By 336 electoral votes against 140 for Parker and Davis. The popular
vote was : Republican, 7,623,486 ; Democratic, 5,077,971 ; Socialist, 402,283 ;
Prohibition, 258,536; Populist, 117,183; Socialist Labor, 31,249; all others
combined, less than 10,000.

RECENT EVENTS

433

Territory as one state, and of New Mexico and Arizona as
separate states. In 1906 Congress authorized the people of
Oklahoma^ and Indian Territory to frame a constitution, and
in due course the state of Oklahoma was admitted in 1907.
The same act authorized the people of New Mexico and

A natural bridge, New Mexico. Height, 80s feet ; span, 274 feet.

Arizona to vote separately on the question whether the two
should form one state to be called Arizona. At the election
a majority of the people of New Mexico voted for, and a
majority of the people of Arizona against, joint statehood, so
the two remained separate territories.

Pure Food and Meat Inspection Laws. — At the same session
of Congress (1906) two other wise and greatly needed laws

1 The central portion of Indian Territory was opened for settlement op April
22, 1889, when a great rush was made for the new lands. Other areas were soon
added, and in 1890 ( )klahoma Territory was organized. It included the western
half of the Indian Territory shown on page 394.

MOM. BRIEF ;

434 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

were enacted. For years past the adulteration of food, drugs,
medicines, and liquors had been carried on to an extent dis-
graceful to our country. The Pure Food Act, as it is called,
was passed to prevent the manufacture of " adulterated or mis-
branded or poisonous or deleterious foods, drugs, medicines, and
liquors " in the District of Columbia and the territories, or the
transportation of such articles from one state to another. Foods
and drugs entering into interstate commerce must be correctly
labeled.

The meat inspection act requires that all meat and food
products intended for sale or transportation as articles of inter-
state or foreign commerce, shall be inspected by officials of the
Department of Agriculture and marked " inspected and passed."
All slaughtering, packing, and canning establishments must be
inspected and their products duly labeled.

Intervention in Cuba. — As the year 1906 drew to a close, we
were once more called on to intervene in affairs in Cuba. The
elections of 1905 in that island had been followed by the revolt
of the defeated party, and the appearance of armed bands.
President Palma declared martial law, and called a meeting
of the Cuban congress, which body gave him supreme power.

President Roosevelt, under our treaty with Cuba, was bound
to maintain in that island a government able to protect life and
property. Secretary-of- War Taft was therefore sent to Havana
to examine into affairs, and while he was so engaged President
Palma resigned, and the Cuban congress did not elect a suc-
cessor. Secretary Taft then assumed the governorship of the
island and held it till October, when Charles Magoon was ap-
pointed temporary governor.^ Under his administration, sup-
ported by United States troops, peace and order were fully

1 Another event of 1906 was a great earthquake in western California (April
18). Many buildings in many places were shaken down, and most of San
Francisco was destroyed by fires which could not be put out because the water
mains were broken by the earthquake. Hundreds of persons lost their lives,
and the property loss in San Francisco alone was estimated at $400,000,000.

RECENT EVENTS

43i

restored, and in January, 1909, the independent government of
Cuba was resumed by its own newly elected officers.

Panic of 1907. — The wonderful prosperity which our country-
had enjoyed for some years past received a sudden check in the
fall of 1907. Distrust of certain banks led to a run on several
in New York city. When they were forced to stop paying out
money, a panic started and spread over the country, business
suffered, and hard times came again.

The Election of 1908. — During the summer of 1908 seven
parties nominated candidates for President and Vice President.
They were the Republican,
Democratic, Prohibition,
Populist, Socialist, Socialist
Labor, and Independence.
The Republicans nominated
William H. Taft and James
S. Sherman ; and the Dem-
ocrats, William J. Bryan
and John W. Kern. Taft ^
and Sherman were elected.
They were inaugurated on
March 4, and Congress was
convened in special session
beginning March 15, for
the purpose of framing a
new tariff law.

Important Acts ot Congress.
— The new tariff law passed
in 1909 lowered the duty on some articles, but increased it on
some others. Congress also levied a small tax on the earn-

1 William Howard Taft was born in Ohio, September 15, 1857, graduated
from Yale, studied law, became judge of the Superior Court of Ohio, and United
States Circuit Judge (6th Circuit). After the war with Spain, Judge Taft was
made president of the Philippine Commission, and in 1901 first civil governor of
the Philippine Islands. In 1904 he was appointed Secretary of War, an office
which he resigned after his nomination for the Presidency.

William H. Taft.

436 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

ings of corporations; proposed an amendment to the Consti-
tution, giving Congress the power to levy a tax on incomes ;
established postal savings banks (1911), and a parcel post
(1913) ; admitted New Mexico and Arizona into the Union
(1912); and gave a territorial government to Alaska (1912).
^ The Census of 1910. — The census of 1910 showed a popu-
lation of nearly 92,000,000 in the main body of the United
States. New York city then had over 4,750,000 inhabitants,
or more than there were in the whole United States when
Washington was President.

SUMMARY

1. Our foreign relations since 1898 have been most important. In 1898
there was a short war with Spain.

2. The chief events of the war were the battle of Manila Bay, the sink-
ing of the Merrimac, the battles near Santiago, the destruction of Cervera's
fleet, the invasion of Porto, liico, and the capture of Manila.

3. Peace brought us the Philippines, Porto Rico, and Guam, and forced
Spain to withdraw from Cuba.

4. Cuba for a while remained under our flag; but in 1902 we withdrew,
and Cuba became a republic. Later events forced us to intervene in 1906.

5. In 1900 events forced us into a short war in China.

6. In 1898 Hawaii was annexed, and in 1900 was organized as a territory ;
in 1903 our dispute with Great Britain over the Alaskan boundary was
settled; and in 1904 a treaty with Panama gave us the right to dig the
Panama Canal.

7. Prominent among domestic affairs since 1898 are the assassination of
President McKinley (1901) ; the Irrigation Act of 1902 ; the pure food and
meat inspection laws of 1906 ; and the admission of the states of Oklahoma
(1907), New Mexico, and Arizona (1912).

CHAPTER XXXV

NEW PLANS OF GOVERNMENT

New Plans of State and Local Government. — For some years
past new ideas of state and local government had been under
discussion, and between 1900 and 1917 some of them were widely
adopted. Among them are the initiative, the referendum, the
recall, the commission form of government for cities, "votes
for women," direct primaries, and votes on presidential can-
didates.

The Initiative and Referendum. — The initiative gives the peo-
ple the right to originate laws. That is, a law may be proposed
by a certain per cent of the voters in a state, who sign petitions
asking for its enactment. If the legislature does not pass the
proposed law, the measure is submitted to popular vote at the
next election, and becomes law if approved by a majority of
those voting on it. The referendum is a provision by which a
certain per cent of the people, by petition, may require that a
law which the legislature has enacted shall be suspended and
not go into effect unless approved by popular vote.^ By 1917
eighteen states had adopted the initiative and referendum, and
some of them had made these plans of government apply to the
legislation of cities as well as to that of the state.

The Recall is a means of removing an elected official from
office before the end of his term. A new election .for the office
in question must be held if this is asked for by petition of a
certain per cent of the voters. The holder of the office and
the new candidate are then voted for, and if the holder is

1 The term " referendum " is sometimes applied to any vote by the people on
a proposed law, whether demanded by referendum petitions, or brought about as
the result of initiative petitions, or provided for by some special act of the legis-
lature.

437

438 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

defeated, he is '' recalled," and goes out of office. This device
has been adopted for offices in many cities and in some states.

Commission Government of Cities. — By this plan the old form
of city government by a mayor, council, and board of aldermen
elected in many wards, is replaced by a commission of three or
five members elected by the voters of the whole city. The
voters or the commissioners elect one member of the commis-
sion to be mayor. Each of the other members takes charge of
a department of the city government — as public safety, finance,
parks. The commission is given large powers in the. appoint-
ment and removal of minor officers. The commission plan of
city government originated in Galveston, Texas, in 1901, and
by 1917 had been adopted in about four hundred cities scat-
tered over thirty-nine states.

Equal Suffrage for Women began to be debated as far back as
1850, but was first granted by Wyoming in 1869. By 1900
Colorado, Utah, and Idaho had followed: then came Wash-
ington (1910), California (1911), Arizona, Kansas, and Oregon
(1912), Montana and Nevada (1914), and New York (1917).i

Campaign Contributions. — Still another political movement,
which spread widely between 1900 and 1917, was that for regu-
lating campaign contributions. Thus more than twenty states
now forbid contributions by corporations, and require all can-
didates to publish the amount of money received and expended
for election purposes. Some limit the amount a candidate may
spend. In 1910 Congress enacted a law requiring the treas-
urers of party committees to make public the contributions and
disbursements of the campaign for each presidential election
and each election to the House of Representatives. The fol-

1 In Illinois (1913) women were granted the suffrage for " statutory offices,"
that is, for offices created by the legislature of the state. The same action was
taken in Nebraska and North Dakota, while Rhode Island and Michigan gave
women the right to vote for presidential electors. In about thirty states women
have school suffrage, in some form, as the right to vote at school district meet-
ings, or to vote for certain school officers.

NEW PLANS OF GOVERNMENT 439

lowing year the law was amended by limiting the campaign
expenses of each candidate for representative to $5000, and of
each senatorial candidate to $10,000.

Direct Primaries provide for the nomination of party candi-
dates by preliminary or primary elections instead of by caucus
or convention, and are in use in many states. In some of these
states the people at primary elections may also express a pref-
erence for a candidate for President.

The Election of 1912. — In 1912 presidential primaries were
held in only eleven states. The result showed that the ma-
jority of the Democrats in those states were divided between
Champ Clark and Woodrow Wilson, and that the majority
of the Republicans in those states were in favor of Theodore
Roosevelt. The Democratic national convention nominated
Wilson for President, and Thomas R. Marshall for Vice
President. The Republican convention renominated William
H. Taft and James S. Sherman, after a protracted contest
over disputed elections of delegates, which led to a split in the
party. A new Progressive party was then organized ; it de-
clared for many political and social reforms, and nominated
Theodore Roosevelt and Hiram W. Johnson. The Socialists
nominated Eugene V. Debs and Emil Seidel. As the campaign
was drawing to a close, Roosevelt was shot and wounded by
an insane man. Wilson and Marshall were elected. ^

The Constitution Amended. — It will be remembered that
(189-1) the Wilson tariff act contained a section providing for
a tax on incomes over $4000, and that the Supreme Court de-
clared it unconstitutional because it was a direct tax and not
apportioned according to population. After that time popular
sentiment in favor of such a tax grew so strong that in 1909 a
joint resolution to amend the Constitution and give Congress
power to levy such a tax without apportioning it according to

1 By 435 electoral votes, to 88 for the Progressive candidates, and 8 for the
Republican. The popular vote was about 6,300,000 Democratic, 4,100,000
Progressive, 3,500,000 Republican, 900,000 Socialist, and 200,000 Prohibition.

440

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Woodrow Wilson.

population was sent to the
states. Early in 1913 it was
declared adopted and became
the sixteenth amendment.
Shortly after a seventeenth
amendment, sent to the
states in 1912, was adopted.
This provides for the elec-
tion of Senators by vote of
the people.^

Acts of Congress. — The
inauguration of President
Wilson 2 was followed by a
call for a special session ^ of
Congress. This session con-
tinued till the regular one
began in December, 1913, and
this went on till October,
1914, a period of eighteen months. In the course of its long
sitting many laws of importance were enacted. The tariff was
revised, a tax was levied on incomes in excess of 13000 or
14000 a year, the national banking system was altered and
twelve Federal Reserve banks created and located one in each
of twelve important cities, and supervised by a Federal Reserve
Board at Washington. These Reserve Banks issue bank notes
and do a banking business with other banks. Money was

1 In March, 1913, the Department of Commerce and Labor was divided into
separate departments, each with its own Secretary. A new member was thus
added to the Cabinet.

2 Tliomas Woodrow Wilson was born at Staunton, Virginia, in 1856, studied
at Princeton, University of Virginia, and Johns Hopkins, practiced law at At-
lanta, Georgia, and was Professor of History and Political Economy at Bryn
Mawr College, 1885-1888 ; at Wesleyan University, 1888-1890 ; and Professor of
Jurisprudence and Political Economy at Princeton University, 1890-1902. In
1902 he became president of Princeton, and in 1911, governor of New Jersey.

8 At this session President Wilson abandoned the old custom of sending a
written message, and delivered his message in person at a joint session of the
Senate and the House. This was the custom of Washington and Adams.

NEW PLANS OF GOVERNMENT 441

appropriated for building a railroad in Alaska. A Trade Com-
mission was created to regulate all corporations engaged in in-
terstate commerce except railroads and other common carriers
under the Inter-State Commerce Commission.

War in Mexico. — After President Diaz was driven from
Mexico in 1911, Mexico continued for some years in a state of
revolution. In four years' time she had nine Presidents. In
the course of this revolution, American citizens and soldiers
were killed by Mexicans shooting across our borders, property
of our citizens was injured, and our flag was insulted. For
this insult an apology was demanded and refused. Where-
upon our government, in order to protect American interests,
sent a force and captured Vera Cruz. Argentina, Brazil, and
Chile thereupon offered their services as mediators. Their
representatives met at Niagara Falls but accomplished little,
and our troops remained in Vera Cruz till November, 1914.

During 1915 affairs in Mexico went from bad to worse.
Three factions led by Carranza, Villa, and Zapata fought for
control. In hope of persuading them to end the conflict, Presi-
dent Wilson asked the ambassadors and ministers of Argentina,
Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Guatemala to confer with
our Secretary of State. They made a joint appeal to the
Mexican leaders to settle their differences. Nothing came of it,
and in October the conference agreed that Carranza, who had
gained control of most of Mexico, should be recognized as head
of the actual government of that country.

This brought down on the United States the wrath of
Villa, and in March, 1916, a band of Mexicans under his com-
mand crossed the border, raided the town of Columbus, New
Mexico, killed 19 Americans, and wounded many more. A
force under General Pershing chased Villa and his bandits
some four hundred miles into Mexico, and killed or captured
many of them. At Parral two troops of our cavalry in search
of Villa were attacked by soldiers of Carranza and forced to
retreat. This ended the hunt for Villa ; but General Pershing

442 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

received more troops and remained in Mexico. Early in May
the Big Bend district in Texas was raided and Americans killed.
A few of the raiders were later captured.

Carranza now demanded that all American troops leave
Mexico. They had crossed the border, he claimed, without
his leave. During June Mexican raiders three times came
over the border into Texas. American troops thereupon
entered Mexico in pursuit. Carranza threatened to attack
them, and also ordered his army to resist any movements of
American forces in Mexico south, east, or west. President
Wilson then (June 18) drafted into the service of the United
States most of the organized militia of the various states. Six-
teen war ships joined those watching the Gulf and Pacific coast
ports of Mexico.

In answer to the demand of Carranza that our troops leave
Mexico, President Wilson refused to withdraw them while
raiding continued, and said that any attempt to drive them out
would "lead to the gravest consequences." But he assured
Carranza that our country wished only to assist in restoring
order along the frontier, and had no intention to infringe on
Mexican sovereignty.

The day after this reply was written (June 21), two troops
of our cavalry, moving eastward from their positions in Mexico,
were attacked near Carrizal by Mexicans armed with machine
guns. In this clash 13 were killed, many wounded, and 23
were taken prisoners. The militia were now ordered to the
border and a demand made for the release of the prisoners.
They were soon set free.

Carranza then asked that " an immediate solution " of the
causes of conflict between the two nations be sought either
through the " friendly mediation " of the South American re-
publics, or " by means of direct negotiation." President Wilson
approved of the latter course, and after long delays our troops
were withdrawn from Mexican territory, and most of them were
withdrawn from the border.

NEW PLANS OF GOVERNMENT 443

The Great War in Europe. — The civil war in Mexico was of
sill all importance in comparison with the terrific contest that
began in Europe in 1914 as described in the next chapter.
Although our country remained neutral for more than two and
a hali" years, it was deeply affected by the struggle. The ma-
jority of our citizens approved of President Wilson's policy of
keeping out of the war so long as this could be done without
surrendering our vital riglits and our hopes of a peaceful future,
l^ut the many questions of foreign policy turned the attention
of the people and ot Congress away from the program of
intermd reforms begun in 1913 (page 440). ^

Government of Porto Rico and the Philippines. — In 1916 Con-
gress passed an act giving the people of the Philippines a larger
share in the government of those islands, and also declaring
tiie purpose of the United States to grant them independence
"as soon as a stable government can be established therein."
The Philippine legislature now consists of two houses both of
which are elective and so under the control of the people. A
law passed by the legislature, however, may be vetoed by the
governor-general (or finally by the President if passed over the
governor-general's veto), or may be annulled by Congress. The
governor-general is appointed by the President.

In 1917 Congress made similar changes in the government
of Porto Rico, giving to the Porto Ricans